


Princess of Demons

by fleets



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Badass Princess, F/M, Kidnapping, Villains to Heroes, captor x captive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 21:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 77,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7071082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleets/pseuds/fleets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>VaatixZelda: It was only after Zelda was kidnapped by Vaati that she learned being an evil overlord wasn't exactly easy. She also learned that he wasn't completely terrible after all. Wait no, that can't be right. He was definitely terrible. Sometimes, though, she found it difficult to make the distinction between good and evil, and she hated herself for it. captorxcaptive.</p>
<p>(Originally called "When I Return" on ff.net. Please check out my ff.net profile under 'fleets' for ongoing works. I will be uploading completed stories on ao3).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I tried very hard not to make this an abusive captorxcaptive story, which these types of stories often end up becoming. I do not condone abuse or abusive relationships.

**When I Return... :**

"Vaati."

Princess Zelda reached out her hand towards the sorcerer who had been getting ready to leave the palace. His cape flapped softly in the wind; she had learned that the breeze never really left his side, and there was always a small flutter of movement. The sorcerer stopped, and just barely turned his head towards the princess to acknowledge he had heard her.

She hesitated, dropping her hand and not really sure what she had meant to say. When had she become so… so timid? She could clearly remember when she had first been taken, no, that term was too kind, _abducted_ by the Sorcerer of Winds she had given every ounce of fight that was in her body to resist him. She was the ruler of Hyrule, champion of one of the three goddesses: she had a fiery fierceness and determination that comes with all of the responsibility that comes with those titles. But now…

Since when had she become so timid?

"Yes, Princess?" Vaati's voice cut through the air, his characteristic annoyance edging into his voice. At the same time, she recognized it not as an antagonistic annoyance, but an annoyance that comes from not knowing what it was that was clearly bothering her. He tended to be overprotective of her at times, and she recalled the week when he had spent his time never leaving her side, punishing any monster that dared to come too close. Since then, none of the monsters around the castle ever bothered her.

Zelda lifted her eyes to look at the sorcerer's face. His lavender bangs washed across the right side of his face, curving gently to the tip of his chin and hiding one of his ruby eyes. She sometimes embarrassed herself by how much detail she knew about him now. "You're leaving."

"Obviously," Vaati cracked a small smile and chuckled with wicked amusement. "What, is my presence so mind-numbing that even Wisdom becomes mortal?"

Ah, that infuriating cheekiness. Infuriatingly endearing at times, but infuriating nonetheless. Her temporary shyness vanished and she returned to her usual, headstrong self. "You know what I'm talking about, Vaati," she flipped her red hair over her shoulder casually as though she could care less, "this is the endgame, isn't it? You're going to…" she paused. Then she sighed. Try as she might, this was just one of those times she couldn't really keep her strong attitude. "You're going to die…" she finished softly.

Vaati, now turned to face her completely, stared at her for a few minutes without saying a word. A fleeting look of… was it hurt?... appeared on his face before it hardened to steel. Still, Zelda knew she saw it. Over the course of several weeks she had realized that Vaati hid so much of himself under a mask of ice, whether out of pride or perhaps even fear of ridicule.

She knew: he was afraid to appear weak to anyone. Even to her. Especially to her.

The sorcerer burst into laughter, hiding whatever insecurity he may have been feeling. "Ahahaha! What, you don't trust my power to be able to defeat the hero? You know what I am capable of. You should know that the hero is far outmatched." He walked over with his confident gait and smoothly wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Zelda pushed him away. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to remain in his embrace and trust that everything was going to be fine, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't trust him! She trusted him a little more now than she had at the beginning, but this of all things she couldn't trust him. At all. "No!" she cried, surprising Vaati by the forcefulness of her shove. "That's not true! He will defeat you, and you will not return from this fight alive!"

"Is that a threat, Princess?" Vaati arched his brows, and he took a small step back. He glanced at his wrist, which was still in the grasp of the princess who appeared to have forgotten to let go after her push.

"No! You don't understand at all, Vaati! Link is going to defeat you and you won't be coming back!" she continued, finally letting go. Small creases appeared along her forehead where there was tension.

Vaati's expression relaxed. Once upon a time he had heard those same words from the fiery princess of Hyrule, and once upon a time he had sneered at her. Maybe he had told her that she was going to learn to give up on the hope of rescue, or something horrible along those lines to crush that determination. Back then, he'd distinctly recalled how he had only really wanted her hand because she would be a pretty trophy to keep around the palace along with the other maidens he'd decorated the place with.

Now it was a little different, and he actually cared about the determination she had. After all, the palace would be dreadfully boring without her spirited attitude and he didn't feel like he had to crush her anymore. It had taken him a while for him to even admit that much.

So when he heard the same words he had heard way back when, he didn't sneer like he had in the past. Actually, even if he'd wanted to, how could he when those same words had been delivered quite differently? Instead of a rebellious tone condemning him to his defeat, Zelda's voice had been a plea to stay safe.

Or was it? He could never really tell with the princess, and for all he knew he might have been imagining things. But that was what he kind of liked about the princess anyway: she always kept him guessing.

"And how can you be so sure?" he asked with amusement in his voice. He grinned even more when Zelda looked at him straight in the eyes like she wanted to punch him for taking everything so irresponsibly.

"Because you're arrogant and impatient and never think through your plans well," Zelda's bottom lip quivered, perhaps out of anger, Vaati guessed. He'd gotten quite used to the angry Princess Zelda during her first few weeks here, though she'd calmed down after a while.

The sorcerer gave a sly smile. "Then, you see why we'll make the perfect team, don't you? Your wisdom and my resourcefulness – we'll take Hyrule by storm. Literally, too," he chuckled. He stopped when he thought he heard Zelda say something. She had barely whispered it. "What was that?"

Princess Zelda bit her lips until they nearly bled. "No," she finally said again. When she looked up, Vaati was startled by tears that were rolling down her cheek. The princess appeared just as surprised and also ashamed, and she quickly wiped them away. She hated how she was crying. It was so stupid to cry because she was angry at him. He was being so stupid, and it made her upset and angry and… "No, because you're so arrogant and impatient that you won't listen to me anyway," she finished sternly, and her hands fell to her sides as she gave up trying to dry her tears. Finally not being able to stand in front of the sorcerer while she cried, Princess Zelda swiftly turned her heel and retired to the depths of the Palace of Winds, striding away from Vaati with cold steps.

The sorcerer looked after her in genuine shock. He'd never had that happen to him before. Well, the crying part. Well, crying he'd dealt with, but not in that context. She'd looked at him with her bold blue eyes, her pink lips pouting with an expression that said she hated him. But it wasn't true hate, the expression that she'd had. It was a hate stemming from the frustration that he wouldn't listen to her; listen to her warning that he was going to die. That was the first time anyone had cried for him because he had made them worry. It was… weird.

Did she… did she actually care about what happened to him? He looked down at his fingers at the strand of red-gold hair that remained in his fingertips. "Hey Princess Zelda," he smiled softly at the piece of hair and then gently let it fall to the ground, "I suppose that was an 'I love you?'" His soft smile, tinged with a faint sadness, lingered even as he turned away and walked towards the balcony where his final fight awaited.

With every step he remembered how it had been, once. He would play the role of the forceful kidnapper, never taking into account what the princess felt, only his own wants to be officially wedded. They would be married and that was that. She would be his visible symbol that Hyrule was completely, totally his. Feelings had never entered his sphere of importance at all.

Since when had all of that changed? He wondered, as he took a step off of the ledge and into the sky. It had snuck up on them before either of them could recognize what was going on. It had been sudden and frightfully unexpected.

Love is a storm, isn't it?

Ha, foolish. Love was such an idiotic word…

Vaati floated up to where the four Links were waiting for him with their swords drawn. With an evil sneer, he whipped up a tornado, causing the sky to darken and lightning to crackle across the sky.

_Just you wait, Princess Zelda,_ he thought as his magic transformed his body into a monstrous, winged black eye, _I will return in victory against these heroes._

_And when I do…_

_I want to hear those three words one more time._


	2. The Beginning, and That Insufferable Sorcerer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of pictures related to this story were posted on my deviantart account (under 'fleetfleets') for those of you who are curious. I forgot to mention that in the last upload.

_In the beginning there was hate. There was frustration. In the beginning there was that insufferable sorcerer._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

A princess watched the minutes go by on the extravagant grandfather clock in her room. She'd been sitting patiently at the mahogany coffee table for two about half an hour ago but now she was lying on the soft, rich bed, not really caring about how she would mess up her strawberry bronzed hair that had been carefully tied back. To the depths of Suburbia with it if she'd actually cared about appearance anymore.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Princess Zelda was getting pretty sick of hearing the clock tick by. She had patience for a lot of things, but after being forced to stay patient about everything for the sake of running an entire country, she was just about done with being patient on one of the worst weeks of her life.

She stared flatly at the dark purple and gold grandfather clock that continued to tick from across the room. Goddesses, how she hated the color purple. She didn't harbor the same kind of disgust for it a two weeks ago, actually. In fact, she used to think the color was quite nice.

Not anymore. Thanks to that purple-obsessed sorcerer who had decided he was going to forcefully marry her.

She sighed, somewhat heavily. She recalled what had happened two weeks ago at the Four Swords Sanctuary. She had summoned Link to come with her to the temple because she had sensed mischief afoot: a dark magical signature had gradually been growing recently, and she had suspected the seal on the sword may have been weakening. Turned out she had been right, but she'd realized it too late. When she had arrived at the sealing sword, the spells that had bound the evil inside had broken, ready to unleash its wrath across all of Hyrule.

Well… that was kind of true. What the evil had wanted wasn't total destruction but her hand in marriage…

Yeah, she hadn't really expected that.

The thing had been a grotesque eyeball of enormous proportions, with black leathery wings supporting it in the air. When those despicable black claws protruding from its side had forcefully grabbed her, lifting her helplessly into the air and declaring with glee that it was going to marry her, her stomach had sunk to the greatest depths of dread. Before Link could do anything, the thing had rapidly flown away to take her to its lair. She remembered how, during the whole duration of the flight, she had wondered just what a monster would gain from marrying someone completely unlike it. She was Hylian, it was a giant eyeball… just why would it want to marry her?

It was when they had arrived at the Palace that she had discovered that the eyeball wasn't _just_ an eyeball. It had taken her to the highest tower in the magnificent floating palace that she had learned was called the Palace of Winds. She could see all of Hyrule beneath her feet, miles and miles below. The white marble walls of the palace blended in with the cool, misty clouds that passed between its halls, and there was a liberating atmosphere to this place; it was the kind of place she could imagine the deities themselves would visit to escape the stress of running the world.

The eye had suggested she remain calm for her own good, and warned that she would most likely pass out from the thin air if she exerted herself too much. She hadn't listened at first, and she'd pulled and punched and yelled at it until she had begun to feel lightheaded. She'd conceded, but not without a good deal of glowering and giving it the most disapproving glare she could muster.

"As a well-mannered princess, I don't think that kind of expression suits you, my dear," the thing had rolled its eye in an exaggerated manner. Then, with surprising gentleness it had set her down on the tower balcony and then gave her a stern look, almost as though daring her to cause a ruckus. When she hadn't, the eye had chuckled, satisfied, and then with a small whirl it transformed into something smaller.

 _Someone_ smaller.

It was a youth of indeterminable age, he could have been slightly older than her or much older, she couldn't tell. His expression was youthful but the light that glimmered from the sharp red eyes behind it was one hardened with years of experiences. And everything about him was purple; from his light purple tunic to his royal purple cape, to his occult purple sorcerer's hat to his lavender hair that hid the right half of his face…

Goddesses how she hated purple.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly this time. My name is Vaati, Sorcerer of the Winds," he grinned wolfishly with a small snicker. He also introduced her himself, making the whole process irritatingly redundant. "I believe you are the young princess of Hyrule? Princess Zelda, I presume. The Hylian royalties aren't very creative when it comes to names, I've noticed."

He'd reached for her hand then, bowing to plant a kiss, and then he'd jumped back with even more snickers as she had gone in to slap him as hard as she could. He had one of those irritating laughs that was childish, self-centered, and annoying. Zelda figured his whole personality could be condensed by the description of his laugh. "Ahaha! I had expected no less from my future wife! And now I must depart, dear," he'd taken a slight bow that was a little too deliberate to be considered sincere, and then took a hop on top of the balcony ledge, "I know you will miss me but I have far more important matters to deal with. I promise I will return for the day of the wedding." Vaati's eyes narrowed dangerously then, and it took all of Zelda's will to not back away from him or display any fear. "We'll have the whole night together, my princess."

She'd had no doubts then. The sorcerer of winds was an asshole and a pervert.

And, well, it had been two weeks since then without another word from Vaati. For the first few nights at the palace, she had been on edge, waiting for the next time he would arrive and do horrible things to her. She had come up with plans to escape the confines of her room, but the sorcerer had been diligent in making sure she wouldn't be able to use her Light Magic to find a means to get away. There was always an Armos sentry standing guard by the only door to the room, and considering the robotic guardians didn't tire or require sleep, it was nearly impossible to slip by them without being noticed. Additionally, there was always at least one small floating eye that watched her every move. Even though it seemed slightly bashful when she was changing her clothes or taking a shower, it obediently followed its master's commands to keep watch on her and report suspicious activity. It appeared to be capable of magic itself, and Zelda wasn't ready to test out how good it was in sorcery if it meant risking Vaati's personal attention.

And so for the first few days there, she had lost sleep from trying to figure out any way to outwit Vaati to escape his floating fortress. However, as days passed with no word from the sorcerer, she had actually begun to feel irritated. She had at least expected some kind of visit from Vaati to taunt her or get a reaction from her; she had figured him to be that kind of person when she had first met him. She thought he might do something like force her to go on romantic walks with him, to have dinner with him, anything! Why did she have to be kidnapped if he was just going to leave her to be bored, staring at the grandfather clock for at least a whole week?!

Trepidation had transformed to boredom, and then boredom to irritation, and finally irritation to fury. Vaati was going to answer to her today. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today.

Princess Zelda hopped off the bed, and straightened out the wrinkles in her dress. She whipped back the hair away from her face and whirled around to face the mirror in the room. She practiced her glare until she was satisfied that she was fierce enough. She may be a princess, but that didn't mean she only knew about being dainty and polite.

The sentry eye was hovering above her, following her every move. Keeping her glare in place, she raised her hands above her head and took a deep breath.

Here goes.

Light flashed from her open palms like blinding arrows, and they pierced through sentry that hadn't expected anything of the sort. It gave a faint squeak, and she had to admit that it would've made her feel guilty in a different circumstance when she wasn't so angry. The light dissipated along with the eye, and she stood still for five long seconds, waiting for something to happen.

Three.

Four.

Five.

"I really don't have time for this, love, I really don't."

Zelda whipped around toward the condescending voice that came from just behind her. Vaati had appeared, and he was lounging in the fluffy couch next to the grandfather clock. His arm dangled lazily across the side of the couch, and he looked at her tiredly. "Was there something you wanted? Besides leaving, of course, because that is strictly forbidden," he picked at his nails, giving off an annoyed air. "I can't imagine why you'd want to do that to my poor sentry unless you had something urgent you had to say. So make it quick, I am needed elsewhere."

Zelda clenched her fists. She hadn't really thought about what to say once Vaati had actually appeared. "I just wanted to blow off a little steam," she replied curtly.

"Oh, all right. If that's the case then I'll just leave a few hundred pots in the room so you'll have more things to smash. It'll be more satisfying than bullying my cute servants, believe me."

"Wait!"

Vaati, who had stood up to leave, looked over his shoulder slowly. "Yes?"

"I…" Zelda's outstretched hand recoiled. She mentally kicked herself for calling out to that bastard like some attention-starved puppy, but she wasn't about to be left here to live a mindless existence for who knows how long. It had been two weeks since she'd had human interaction, and even if it meant that 'human interaction' was having hostile conversation with someone she hated, she'd gladly prefer it over complete isolation. "What was the purpose of you kidnapping me?"

Confusion flashed on Vaati's face, and then he dismissed it casually with a wave of his hand. "Oh, right. Marrying you. Yes dear, I've got it all arranged. Meaning we're already married. Congratulations."

Now it was Zelda's turn to look baffled. "What?"

Vaati snorted. "Why, did you actually want a whole wedding ceremony? I really don't want to waste my time on such trivialities, and I'm not too keen on having to organize the whole thing if I don't have to." He yawned, bored, and then shrugged. "Look, dear, I understand it's every girl's dream to wear a white dress so if you really must, I'll have something you can look pretty in with the veil and flowers and everything sometime tomorrow. Maybe you can have a party with the poes? I myself will be busy in other matters."

"I… but that's… that's so irresponsible!" Zelda cried. She then realized her error when Vaati's mouth widened into a toothy smile.

"What's that? I didn't realize you cared about this so much, princess. Perhaps I can make an exception if you beg a little more."

Zelda trembled in fury, and she was so angry that she could just feel the moisture collecting at the corners of her eyes. She was being completely manipulated to do what he wanted her to do, and she hadn't been so completely beaten before as she had been just now. She bit her lip, drawing a little blood.

Well then, this was only the beginning. She wasn't going to let him have his way without a fight.


	3. Free Prisoner

Vaati gave Zelda a smug little smile, enjoying watching the princess squirm as she tried to come up with a response. This infuriated the princess more, and she wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of that grin, but she figured the sorcerer would stop being as civil to her: Vaati _was_ an infamous wind mage for a reason. Zelda's hands rolled into fists. She wasn't going to be left here like some decorative piece, but she also wasn't going to beg the bastard to arrange a wedding. Farore damn it all she definitely wasn't going to be doing that.

Zelda mentally sighed to herself. Vaati had been right in that he brought out the worst in her, especially in matters regarding lady-like conduct. He certainly didn't deserve a lady and to the fiery depths of Death Mountain to it all if she was going to be one for him. Still, she figured she shouldn't get used to this if she was ever planning on going back to being the honorable princess of Hyrule.

"Then why," she asked slowly, "did you promise you'll return for the wedding?"

"Oh did I say that? I don't remember that at all. You women have such specific memories for the most trivial things," Vaati drawled as he walked back and draped himself over the couch.

Zelda's eyes narrowed slightly. _Misogynistic pig._

Vaati continued, tapping his chin with a slender finger thoughtfully. "If I did say that, I imagine I said that to get a reaction out of you. It _is_ a dramatic phrase, isn't it? I imagine it was extremely entertaining. Maybe your cheeks blushed up like a cherry, kind of like what it's doing now, actually. Except instead of that ugly scowl you have now I bet you had a bit of fear in your eyes. Fearful with a blush, that's exactly how I like you princess," Vaati chuckled to himself with a savage smirk.

Zelda's voice turned colder with each word. She wasn't exactly an angry type of person, usually, and not many people could really push her to fury. Vaati probably managed to make it on to her very selective and special list of 'people who can make her extremely angry' in an unusually short period of time. "What do you even gain from locking me up here? You might as well have killed me and been done with it, and no one would know the difference."

Vaati whistled, peering at her from under his bangs. "Wooow, princess you have much darker ideas than I do. Kill you? Well I guess I learned something today about how you royals treat guests. Remind me to fix that when Hyrule is completely under my rule: despite popular belief I actually _don't_ enjoy having to clean up a smelly pile of dead bodies."

"You know that's not the point of my question!"

The sorcerer leaned forward and gave her a long stare. "Are you really that dense that I have to spell out for you why claiming you as my wife will benefit me, as well as you, in the long run?"

Zelda crossed her arms over her chest and looked back at him defiantly. She was too upset to be unassertive at the moment. "I understand," she replied venomously, "that your intention was to demonstrate a power play by holding me captive. What I don't understand is why you insist on calling it a marriage when I'm no different than an ordinary captive."

Vaati shrugged. "Heh, well I figured you'd like the preferential treatment since you're a princess and all, your highness," Vaati replied, sarcasm just laced into every word.

" _This_ is your idea of preferential treatment? _!_ "

At this, Vaati stood up abruptly from the couch and strolled over to her in three, heavy steps. Zelda, who had previously been pointing at him accusatorially faltered for a moment when the sorcerer approached her with a menacing intention. She tried to gather up her courage again to stare the sorcerer down, but the way he looked at her now made her afraid that she had taken it too far. She didn't really know what he was capable of if she actually made him snap, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with it yet.

Before she knew it, Vaati had backed her up against the wall, pressing his hands on both sides of her head and effectively pinning her in place. The only sound in the room for a while was the slow ticking of the grandfather clock and their level breathing. The way his expression was cold and severe clearly let her know that she had pushed her luck too far…

Finally, after an uncomfortable and deadly silence, he leaned forward right next to her ear and gave a whisper that sent the hairs along her neck crawling. "I've done a lot for you and I don't appreciate you talking back to me like this," he backed up so that he could gaze into her eyes with that frightening red glare, "do not do that again."

It was completely different from his earlier, somewhat lazy and careless demeanor. It had come out of nowhere, and no one could have predicted his personality switch. This new personality was perhaps the real one that was concealed behind the less threatening one. Zelda held her breath, and although she was ready to endure whatever wrath he may inflict on her she couldn't deny that she was afraid. She didn't know Vaati well enough to know just what he was capable of, and if he really was the insane, power hungry evildoer that the stories painted him out to be, then she doubted she would ever be able to predict his limits.

At the same time, she knew Vaati was getting a kick out of seeing her afraid, and that made her incredibly upset.

The Sorcerer of Winds pulled back, seemingly satisfied that he'd seen the hint of fear in Zelda's face, and then strolled back towards the Armos statues who were standing guard by the entrance of the room. He ran a hand over the stone heads and cocked his head towards the princess with an air of superiority. "I believe there's a misunderstanding, princess. Do you realize that these guards are not here to keep you in, but here to keep other things _out_?" He smirked when Zelda gave him a skeptical frown. "Contrary to what you may believe, you're not a prisoner, princess. It is only reasonable that I protect my own wife from harm, is it not?" He held up a hand when Zelda opened her mouth in protest. "If you still think I'm the bad guy here, feel free to roam the palace. These statues won't hurt you." He snickered as he walked out the room, waving his hand over his shoulder and leaving Zelda standing alone in her room, flabbergasted. "Don't make me say 'I told you so' if you do get hurt wandering the palace, princess."

For some time, Zelda continued to stare after the empty space where Vaati had been. Once she was sure that he was far away, she let herself sit down on the floor and take in everything that had happened. Another eye-bat sentry had reappeared, taking the old one's place and hovering above her head.

What had happened just now, the entire conversation, was not something she had expected at all. First off, Vaati had captured her because he wanted her to be his wife, and yet after two weeks he'd left her alone in her room like a normal prisoner, not once coming by to check up on her. And while it wasn't like she actually wanted him to bother her, the fact that he seemed like he could care less about her really got on her nerves. Like if you were going to go through all the trouble of forcefully marrying someone then you should at least act like you cared!

Second, Vaati had indicated that the Armos statues weren't there to keep her trapped in her room. She hadn't actually tried to see what would happen if she walked out, and she'd always just assumed that the statues would attack her as soon as she took one step out. Assuming that the sorcerer wasn't lying, and ignoring the fact that he probably _was_ lying, the statues wouldn't actually attack her and therefore she was free to walk around the Palace of Winds as she wished. But nooo, that was too good to be true. Vaati would have to be stupid to allow something like that: if she was free to go wherever she wished, she had a chance to maybe find some way off this place and escape. There had to be a catch. She couldn't actually walk out of her room like nothing was wrong.

Could she?

Zelda stared at the pair of Armos Statues by the entrance of her room wonderingly. Her features lit up as she realized she now had a possibility of escape if what Vaati had said had been true. The princess clenched her fists.

Tomorrow, she was going to leave this place.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zelda woke up early the next morning, just when the sun had climbed over the horizon. The air was still cool, and the early morning clouds were still passing through the palace corridors, leaving droplets of moisture on her skin. She quickly dressed herself, finding the least inhibiting wear from the closet. They were all fancy dresses, unfortunately, but she managed to find a lavender one that was loosely fitting instead of puffy dresses or worse, ones with corsets. She took some liberties and tore up the bottom with the edge of a mirror she'd broken, so that she could move her legs more freely. She slipped off her shoes so as to reduce the sound of footsteps, and carefully walked up to the edge of the exit of her room, right by the Armos statues.

She shot a small glance at the bat sentry that still followed her every move. She knew that Vaati could see what she was up to if he really wanted to and there was nothing she could do about it, but she hoped that since it was early in the morning enough he'd have less incentive to wake up just to watch her. The sentry might alert him anyway, but it didn't hurt to try.

Zelda took a small step just past the two statues standing guard, and she watched them carefully, wondering if they'd stir. Neither of them moved an inch. The princess let out a small sigh of relief, only just realizing she'd been holding her breath nervously when she'd taken that first step. Less fearful now, but still expecting Vaati's promise that the statues wouldn't attack her to be a distasteful joke, she took another step past the statues. Still nothing.

 _So Vaati's claim that the statues weren't there to keep me in was true?_ Zelda pondered. _But then what are they there for?_

A small sliver of sunlight hit her cheek, and she looked up sharply towards the sun that had crept through the tall arching pillars. Time was passing quickly, and she had to move quickly before _he_ decided to pay a visit.

Oh how she wished she knew how to warp long distances! She'd seen Vaati do it before, with his wind magic and all, but that was completely different than the Light Magic she was familiar with. Magic was rare among Hylians, and even though she could cast some powerful spells she was nowhere near as capable as the Sorcerer of Winds. Regarding warping, the most she could do was to warp short distances as an evasive maneuver. If she'd been able to warp the way Vaati could, she could have escaped away long ago.

No use wishing for things now, though. Zelda quickly surveyed her surroundings, and decided to make a run to the right, which led her away from the central area of the palace. She hoped that maybe, near the ledges, she could find some way down from the clouds.

She was also afraid she'd run into Vaati if she made her way to the heart of the palace. That just wasn't on her top ten places she wanted to be right now. Or ever.

Zelda's confidence grew with every step she made it away from her room. If only she'd figured out she could leave before, she would have explored the palace earlier instead of waiting aimlessly in her room for two weeks.

Goddesses she hated that purple twat. He must have found it so hilarious that she'd been sitting in her room obediently all this time, even though she could have strolled out any time.

She made it to one of the balconies overlooking the clouds, and she peered over the edge of the elaborate stone railings. The sun cast its orange rays through the clouds, the light scattering in a beautiful glimmer on the pillars and arches poking through the sky, giving the palace a golden glow. In one of the distant areas of the palace she could make out some kind of garden with ivies and flowering vines. She had to admit this place was… amazing. She would have actually appreciated it if she hadn't been forcefully brought here by a crazy, probably murderous, asshole.

A soft clatter of bones caught Zelda's attention, and she froze, clenching the edge of the railings tightly. She slowly turned around, and noticed a skull floating next to her, a few feet away. It was a Bubble.

"Um…" the princess backed away slowly. Some more Bubbles had gathered around, as well as the full skeleton soldier Stalfoses. Zelda became nervous at the sudden group of monsters who had gathered around.

"GrrAARoaororrrarro!"

"Aaah!"

Zelda jumped back as the Bubble closest to her burst into blue flames without warning, flying towards her with a terrifying wail. The other skulls also burst into flames, either a hot red or icy blue, and began to chase her down with haunting howls. Screaming, Zelda ran back to the palace with the monsters close on her heels. Something struck the back of her left leg, and she cried out in pain as her legs buckled under her and she fell across the marble floor. Something else struck her back before it clattered away: a Stalfos had thrown a heavy bone at her. Zelda winced, trying to ignore her leg that was beginning to bruise, and looked behind her shoulder. Another Bubble was closing in on her, its teeth chattering as it glowed a bright blue from its fire.

Zelda gritted her teeth and she picked herself up, grabbing one of the bones that had hit her off the floor. _I am so done with this._

"Yaaah!"

_Crash!_

Zelda swung the bone as hard as she could towards the Bubble that had charged at her. It connected cleanly with its jaw, and there was a loud crack as it was sent flying into the group of monsters chasing her.

While the monsters were slowed down, she ran back to the last place she thought she'd go; back to her room.

Just as she ran past the Armos statues, they sprang to life, red orbs glowing from within their stone helmets. The ground shook and rumbled as they activated, and right when the first of the skeletal monsters reached the entrance of Zelda's room, a scorching line of burning crimson shot through their ranks. Several of them dropped lifelessly onto the floor after the lasers hit them.

Zelda peeked over one of the statue's shoulders, and saw that the group of monsters, who had moments before been chasing after her, had become hesitant. They were eyeing the Armos statues fearfully, and they huddled together, wondering who among them was brave enough to make a break past them. Eventually, they decided it wasn't worth it and sullenly went back to where they had come from.

The princess allowed her breathing to slow, but not before her breath hitched from seeing a familiar, unwelcome figure staring at her from near the ceiling a little ways away. Her face contorted into a frustrated snarl, and she turned her heel swiftly, her tattered dress swirling behind her with an angry snap. Vaati was lounging against one of the curved supports of the ceiling, dangling his feet lazily over the edge and watching her with an amused sneer. His toothy smile sent her a clear message, "I told you so."

He'd been watching the whole thing, no doubt.

And it upset Zelda even more that he had done nothing except watch and laugh at her failure from a distance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vaati strolled through his palace with a cheerful gait. These past few weeks he'd encountered so many frustrations that the eventful, entertaining morning was a pleasant change of pace. He'd been mildly surprised when the princess had sought his attention yesterday in the most violent manner (poor sentry), but at the same time he'd expected her to break soon after he'd left her alone for so long. He'd suspected the latest princess of Hyrule was a feisty one the moment he'd escaped his prison; the instant he'd caught her in his claws she'd snapped her head around, her fiery red-blond hair whipping around her, and she'd given him one of the fiercest looks anyone had ever dared to give him. It was a look that made sure she'd etched every feature of her captor to memory, so that one day she could bring justice to the one who had dared kidnap her.

The fact that she had managed to give him such a terrible glare while he was in his ultimate demon eye form had impressed him as well.

To be perfectly honest, before she'd given him that look he'd been planning on removing her from the picture completely by turning her into a statue, or tossing her off a cliff. He'd even given cliff-tossing a serious thought, since simply cursing her would have the risk of someone managing to break the curse. Throwing her off a cliff to certain death was much better to insure she didn't come back within the next decade to become a nuisance. He'd had a lot of time (a stupid long amount of time) thinking about what he'd do with the next Zelda incarnation he encountered while he'd been stuck in that blasted Four Sword; cliff throwing had been one of his top solutions.

But then she'd given him that look. It piqued his curiosity. This girl, even though she'd been in a completely disadvantageous position, thought she still had the power to threaten him.

He wanted to know more. What would it take for her to finally break down and become someone plain and boring, someone who didn't have that ferocious spark that allowed her to fight back? How terrible would he have to be to completely tame that defiant spirit and have her obey his every word?

And so he decided he'd marry her. It didn't mean he was actually going to have a respectful marriage-like relationship, oh Din no. He didn't have the time nor the patience for that sort of thing. It was more of a… status thing. He'd have Hyrule literally when he'd crushed all opposition in the region, and he'd have Hyrule symbolically when he'd bound its princess with a damning ring on her finger. It was such a fantastic idea he didn't know why he hadn't thought of it sooner.

When he'd paid her a visit yesterday, he was sure he was going to be entertained in the next few days to come. He couldn't praise himself enough for his brilliant idea to let her know she was free to wander the palace as she wished. She didn't fail to amuse him the very next day in her attempt to escape.

As soon as his sentry had alerted him to unusual behavior from Zelda this morning, he'd quietly teleported just outside her room, out of sight, to see what was going on. He hadn't really expected her to wander off so soon; he'd expected a sheltered princess to maybe deliberate her situation for a few days before walking off to something potentially dangerous. She'd proved him wrong, and with determination (but not recklessness), she'd made a swift exit out of her room.

He could have helped her when she'd been attacked, sure, but it was much more satisfying to watch her struggle. The monsters that resided around the palace, although they did answer to him, would not be friendly to the princess of Hyrule. He knew they would attack her on sight, so he'd placed the Armos statues by her room so they wouldn't be able to get to her. Without them, or him, to help, Zelda would have to fight against the horde of the palace residents if she wanted to get anywhere.

And that was exactly what had happened.

This morning was probably the best mornings he'd had in a long time. The princess would have to acknowledge that he wasn't technically keeping her prisoner and that he was (and this was the best part) actually keeping her from harm, _but_ she was effectively still a prisoner because she couldn't leave her room without getting attacked by monsters. The scenario was just so perfect.

"Lord Vaati. The moblin chief has rejected your orders to cease activities in West Hyrule field." A Stalfos caught up to him in the hall to give him the news.

Vaati's smile momentarily dropped as he rolled his eyes tiredly and waved the skeleton away. His past few weeks had been filled with nothing but aggravating political nonsense, along with Link running around and causing trouble everywhere. He deserved a break.

For now, he was going to enjoy remembering the way the great princess of Hyrule had helplessly scurried back to her prison, with the knowledge that her very captor and prison warden was the one who was keeping her 'safe.'


	4. Mind Games

It had been three days then, since that embarrassing incident where she'd been attacked by the palace monsters. The first thought that had popped into Zelda's head after the first few hours of the attack was, "How dare they attack _her_ , Vaati's own princess! Where's the discipline?! Why doesn't he punish them?"

This thought was then immediately followed by a state of self-loathing which had lasted up until now, for the past three days. She could see what he was doing to her, and there was little she could do about it. He was playing on her preconceived notions about his motives (i.e. that he valued her immensely as the grand prize) and was gradually tricking her to see herself as his prize. Whenever he did something that went against her expectations, such as not protecting her ( _her_ , the one he went to all the trouble of kidnapping and claiming was _his wife for crying out loud_ ), she would become surprised by his lack of inaction and immediately become upset that he was doing something that made no sense to her (why kidnap her if he was just going to leave her alone, or let her get hurt by his minions?). Zelda hated it if something didn't make sense, and whenever something didn't make sense she would argue.

Eventually this turned into her arguing for Vaati to treat her like she was his responsibility, which was _exactly_ what he wanted her to do.

It was psychological warfare, something Zelda of all people should have been good at, and she was getting beaten by _him_.

Of course she was angry.

Zelda sat on her bed, her long hair thrown messily over her shoulders in an act of defiance that she wasn't going to make an effort to look pretty for _him_ , and stared pointedly past the two Armos statues to freedom. For all the interactions between her and Vaati so far, the sorcerer had ended up making a fool of her. There was no way she was just going to allow that to keep happening, and she needed to find some way to break his confidence.

_If I can get him agitated enough… maybe he'll slip up and make a mistake. That would be my chance to escape, or even better, end him somehow._

She crossed her arms over her chest, squinting past the Armos guards and at the monsters wandering about on the far side of the palace. She needed to figure Vaati out if she could have any hope of winning; what did he know about her, what did he think she was like, and what kind of reactions did he expect from her?

Zelda came up with a mental list, and gradually she began to see what she could do to take him completely by surprise. First, he thought she was a sheltered girl who couldn't take care of herself if she were attacked. He(and most of Hyrule, she supposed), expected her to be The Princess, only handling things with silk gloves and having the maids dress her. Not many people knew that the royals of Hyrule were given basic Sheikah training from a young age for self-defense. Second, based off of the first assumption, he would think that even if she did attempt to escape, she would run back to look for help if she were attacked.

Zelda briefly bit her cheek. Okay, so she _had_ run back and his assumption may have been correct. Moving on.

Most importantly, third, based on his first and second assumptions, he would definitely NOT expect her to try the same escape plan again. He would not expect her to hurt herself deliberately, in a clear message of insubordination. She would not let him have his way, and she was sure he didn't think of her as someone strong enough to do what she was now considering.

She was his ace. She was his symbol that he had literally captured and dominated Hyrule. If she took that away from him, he would lose an important part of his victory. His win against the Hylians would never be as complete without her in his possession.

A grin that was menacing enough that even the monsters would have mistaken her as one of their own played on Zelda's lips. What would he do if she went out and let herself get hurt? Her intention wasn't suicide, no, that wasn't it at all. Suicide was never a win, and she damn well deserved a win against that bastard. No, she was going to give him a scare, a threat that he could lose his precious perfect victory if she so desired.

He would be shaken. He would be nervous.

He would make mistakes.

And then he'll know he'd messed with the wrong princess.

Slowly she uncrossed her arms and stood up from where she'd been sitting on the bed. Zelda walked over to her closet, almost gliding, with the terrifying stare of a wraith. She threw open the closet and pulled out the pink dress she had initially been wearing during her capture, and ignored the eye bat sentry that had begun to flit about her almost nervously.

Instead of shyly excusing herself to the washroom to change, she undressed her current garb boldly, tossing it onto the floor and kicking it aside. No longer was she going to be the proper princess he wanted her to be. Vaati wanted her to be the meek, innocent, and sheltered princess whose modesty he could break. She thought she could begin to understand him and his motives now. No more would he be able to watch her change clothes uncomfortably as the sentry followed her every move. Of course she had no proof he'd ever watched her like that, but it seemed like the sort of thing he would do; that guy liked to see people squirm, to see people mentally crumble before his rule. Well she was going to give him none of that now.

Zelda turned sharply to look at the sentry straight in the eye, and she had the small bat creature flitter away backwards against the wall. She dared it to keep looking, with her silent stare. Even though she was only in her undergarments and in the most exposed position a high-status woman could be, it was difficult to describe her as anything remotely desirable.

With her cold, calculating aura, she was a horrifying witch.

"I'm just," she smiled in a terribly cheerful manner, "going to take a walk."

She slipped into her old royal dress. The pink satin dampened and hid some of her threatening aura, but she still managed to look quite scary in pink. She was glad that Link didn't have to see her like this: people rarely managed to make her angry, like _really_ angry, but when they did she could be a menace. Not many people ever got to see this ticked off side to her normally friendly personality. She tied up her hair in a ponytail and her shoes clicked on the floor as she strode towards the exit, her cute red bow bobbing above her head.

As soon as she had stepped past the Armos statues, a few monsters who had been patrolling the area took notice. They stopped to watch her out of curiosity, but kept a cautious distance from the guardian statues. Zelda returned their gaze, and then began to walk slowly, with the graceful steps only a princess could take, towards the monsters and away from safety. The monsters charged immediately as soon as they saw that she was outside the reach of the Armos statues.

At this point, the small sentry that had been keeping watch of her began to flit around her in alarm. As the growing number of monsters approached her from all directions, she lifted her silk gloved arm gently, quieting the little bat creature. She smiled softly.

"Just taking a walk," she whispered, and her smile twisted into a smirk when she noticed someone else watching out of the corner of her eye.

The princess lifted her head just as the first wave of monsters closed in on her, and her eyes locked onto Vaati's who was sitting perched up by the ceiling with a perplexed expression. The sorcerer wasn't watching in relaxed amusement this time. His brows were furrowed and his eyes wandered hurriedly as he tried to figure out what was going on. This wasn't part of his plan. The princess of Hyrule wasn't supposed to do something like this. Vaati's shoulders were tense as he watched the palace monsters charge towards Zelda.

She smiled even wider. That was such a nice expression on him. Bastard.

" _I win,"_ Zelda mouthed, letting him know that she had seen him. She liked to think she saw a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face just before her vision was blotted out by dozens of skeletal creatures.

The next few seconds were a blur of confusion. She couldn't really remember what had happened because so many things were happening at once. A Bubble collided into her shoulder with open jaws, but before it could bite down it was knocked away by a Stalfos that had also been trying to get to her.

Then, a great and powerful gust came out of nowhere, swirling around her savagely. Explosions, shrieks, wails and howls screamed all around her in a chaotic discord, and she brought up her hands involuntarily to shield herself from the onslaught of bones clattering by her as the skeletal monsters were thrown around in the air.

Not a single splinter touched her. It was as though the wind moved everything in such a way that nothing could get to her. She peeked above her arm that hid her face.

_Crack!_

Zelda yelped in surprise as the monster hoard, which had only moments before been circling helplessly around her in a vicious tornado, suddenly shot in every which way by a powerful sonic boom.

" _Nice day for a walk."_

Zelda stiffened. Slender fingers slipped around her waist and kept her in a gentle yet firm grip. It wasn't tight enough to signal intended harm, but it was tight enough to tell her she wasn't going to be walking off any time soon. She could feel the other person's controlled breathing just along her neck, shaking somewhat from rage. Slowly, Zelda turned her head towards Vaati, and what she saw made her breath hitch in fear.

He had the most terrifying glare as though he would burn down all of the monsters with just his gaze. His free right hand was contorted, clawlike, with his fingers splayed apart and ready to deal immediate damage to anything that chose to make the wrong decision. Actually, from the way he was looking right now he probably would have destroyed the first thing that dared to move. The air around them rippled uneasily, moving back and forth as though the breeze couldn't decide which way to go.

" _No one,"_ he hissed venomously, " _lays a finger on her."_ Even though the sorcerer spoke barely above a whisper, the princess was sure every monster in the palace could hear his voice as loudly as a shout. His voice alone was so frigid that several of the monsters finally backed away slowly, their bones chattering as they shook in fright. The remaining ones ran away after them and they all retreated until none were left near the palace's lord and his princess.

Zelda began to feel uncomfortable, being held so close to someone she despised. Gathering her courage once again, she put up a steel hard expression that was cold enough to match Vaati's, and spoke shortly, "Let go."

The sorcerer said nothing, but the corner of his left eye that was left unhidden by his bangs twitched.

"I said _let go._ "

Without warning, Vaati shot his terrible glare her way and surprisingly, let go of her waist. It was only seconds after, however, that he reached over for her wrist and yanked her towards him, hard.

"Ow!" Zelda cried. Her hands hit his chest as she was pulled in closer, and she pushed away with futile effort. She was immediately hushed when her eyes met his. He wasn't fooling around anymore, like in the beginning. He was dangerously serious.

"I know what you were trying to do," he whispered in that same frightening voice.

Zelda ignored the pain around her wrist from Vaati's iron grip. Even with her current predicament, she couldn't help but smirk from the way she had splintered the sorcerer's flippantly confident attitude from earlier. "Do you?"

His grip tightened and anger flashed across his face. "Isn't it rather irresponsible of a princess to commit suicide when her country is in danger?"

"Oh, is _that_ what I was doing?" She retorted. In three quick movements, she twisted free from Vaati's grasp, her Sheikah training invaluable in this situation. She laughed inwardly when she noticed Vaati's brief look of surprise at her swift, easy escape. "Is it still suicide if one knows they won't die?" Zelda gave him a sly grin, making it clear she wasn't just his helpless captive.

"Are you crazy? _!_ " Vaati finally snapped. "If I hadn't been there you definitely would have died! I saw that look on your face: you were prepared to let them do anything to you. You hadn't intended to fight!"

"Then perhaps I knew someone would be there to save me."

Vaati's fists were clenched, and from the way they trembled it seemed he was using all of his effort not to hit her. "Link isn't anywhere near this palace, prin – "

"Maybe I knew my _husband_ would save me," Zelda grinned wider. She could see the confusion on his face. She was turning his game against him, and nothing made her happier.

"You don't honestly think that," Vaati guffawed, waving his hands at her once he'd gotten over his initial mental pause from what she'd said. "You wouldn't admit that out loud."

"Why, because I'm too good for you? That is true. I am too good for you." The princess turned her heel, her pink shoes clicking on the white tiles, and brushed her hair over her shoulder dismissively. She began walking to the palace balcony, but not before Vaati appeared in her way, stopping her in her tracks.

"I don't have time for your nonsense right now, princess," Vaati seethed. "We can play all you want later, but for now just stay out of my way."

"Then maybe you can move out of _my_ way," Zelda scoffed, indicating with her hands the sorcerer who was literally in her way.

Vaati took a few steps towards her, and they were so close that if either of them took another step they would have bumped heads. "You'd better not do something like that again," he reached up and ran the backside of his hand along her cheek. It would have been a sweet gesture coming from anyone besides him; Vaati's had an undertone of a threat. Zelda simply continued to glare back defiantly, determined not to be perturbed. Vaati continued, "I've been nothing if not hospitable to you so far, and I could have put you in some disgusting dungeon if I wanted to, but I didn't. I could have taken you already, but having you begging for me is more appealing so I haven't." His hands finally stopped at her chin. He seemed to take a moment to admire her, and the dangerous, somewhat hungry look would have rattled anyone. It took Zelda everything not to flinch away from him. "However, my patience isn't infinite and if you keep trying me this way, I will stop being so nice to you, dear."

"I'm not afraid of you," Zelda whispered, her eyes narrowing.

Vaati smirked, and leaned forward then, while tilting her chin up so that her lips would be forced to meet his. The princess, who had been completely still under Vaati's threats up until now, lashed out with a vicious slap. Vaati saw it coming and warped a few feet away, giggling again, and back to his casually confident attitude.

"No, you're not. And I expect no less from my wife. We will definitely have fun later," the sorcerer grinned devilishly, and grinned even wider when the princess wrinkled her nose disdainfully. Vaati shrugged, and shook his head. "But right now, I can't have you distracting me. I'm the only one stopping Hyrule from being destroyed by monsters, and you're ruining my efforts to keep the castle intact."

Zelda's head snapped towards Vaati, her eyes widening questioningly at his comment. What did he mean by that? What was going on in Hyrule right now?

The wind mage snickered, leaving her with that enigmatic comment for her to torture herself over. "So if you care about your precious Hyrule you'll stop being a nuisance to me." And with that, he vanished, leaving behind a few scattered bones and a troubled princess in the middle of it all.


	5. First Date

Vaati was not upset by what had happened earlier in the day when Zelda had decided to get mauled by monsters. No, not upset at all. In fact, he was absolutely livid and couldn't believe the girl had pulled such a ridiculous stunt.

The sorcerer paced around his quarters like an angry bear, ignoring the few sentry eyes that flitted about nervously in his presence. His default expression at the moment was an enraged snarl, and from the way he was pacing he might have been able to succeed in starting a fire with his heels.

First things first, he was going to have to get the monsters to stop attacking the princess if he wanted to avoid being interrupted from his schedule to save her _again_. At first he thought it would be a great idea to let them attack her because he never expected the princess to have the gall to be attacked. Any sensible person would run away from harm, and considering her room wasn't horrible, he figured she'd sit there obediently for most of the time.

A tiny smile appeared on his lips briefly. Alright, so he did like that about her; the fact that she had a lot of spunk. He hadn't really expected that out of a princess, and she'd piqued his curiosity by proving his expectations wrong.

At the same time, though, this was a total nuisance of a situation. He'd considered the idea of just shutting her up in some goddess-damned crystal or turning her to stone, but a part of him just couldn't come to terms with that. Shutting her up now implied that she had been too much for him to handle. That he'd _LOST_. No, no, it was far better to have her as his living, breathing trophy instead of some fancy room ornament. And besides, he could handle her. He was a god for crying out loud, he wasn't about to be flustered by some spoiled little princess.

"Of all the times for this to happen," he growled to no one in particular. He had enough to worry about at the moment and he really didn't need another thing to take care of. He had the hero to worry about, as always. He had the idiot monsters to worry about and make sure they weren't doing anything outstandingly stupid, as always. And just a few minutes ago he'd run into an old acquaintance who had given him some really awful news to fret about.

Which was new.

And now he had a princess who was too bold and daring for her own good to worry about.

Also new.

The next few weeks were going to be busy indeed.

_Why can't this be easier?_

Vaati sighed, and finally decided to stop pacing (much to the relief of his servants) and dropped himself down onto a couch. The only thing he could do was take things one at a time. He would have liked to take care of the hero immediately, before the blasted kid came too close to his Palace, but there were much more urgent things he needed to take care of. Ha, well if he was lucky, then the green idiot would probably be dead within the next week or so and he wouldn't even have to worry about the hero at all. Wouldn't that be nice…

Ah well. The first thing he was going to have to take care of was that strong-willed princess. Once he could get her to calm down a bit, then he would be able to focus his energy on more important things.

And Din's fire were there a lot of things he had to take care of in this gradually growing mess. Who said being an overlord was an easy job?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, just as Zelda was finishing getting dressed, she was surprised by three short knocks on the door; sharp and impatient ones that indicated the person waiting outside was at least mildly annoyed. The princess looked at the door as she tightened the laces of the lavender dress she had torn up a few days ago during her first exploration outside the castle. She had no doubt it was Vaati standing outside – she couldn't really think of anyone else who would come knocking on her door – but what did he want this time?

She waited a few more seconds, wondering if she should even bother answering the door. After all, if he wanted to come inside he could very easily just open the door himself. Curiously enough, he didn't force his way into her room even though she was sure he was aware that she was making him wait unnecessarily. Since he was actually being polite about it, the princess decided to give him a chance.

She opened the door, and sure enough there was one unhappy sorcerer waiting for her patiently. Without explaining himself, Vaati stuck out an arm, indicating her to accompany him. "Breakfast," was the one word reply he gave in response to the princess's quizzical frown.

Zelda refused to take his arm. "I always eat by myself," she said plainly. Ever since Vaati had kidnapped her, he'd made no effort to visit his prisoner. What made today so different?

"Well today you're not," Vaati almost looked as though he was going to shove his arm to her face if she didn't take it. He had an air that suggested he was tired of having to explain himself, and that she should just do what he said.

Wordlessly, Zelda complied, still cautious of the sorcerer and wondering what his underlying motives were. As she followed his stiff walk through the Palace, she could only read one thing: something was bothering him immensely. Usually if things were going his way, he would have been a little cheekier, with the whole suave-sorcerer routine. He would have been sneering a lot more with that devilish grin for sure, and would have taken jabs at her just to see her get a rise. Today, Vaati looked tired. He looked like he just wanted to get the day over with.

Today, she was a chore.

Zelda grinned inwardly to herself, though careful not to let her smile appear on her face; anything that upset Vaati had to be a good thing. She was curious, now, to know just what it was that had made Vaati so annoyed. If she could just figure it out, then she could exploit it.

The sorcerer escorted her to one of the Palace dining halls. It was way too grand for it to be for two people, and the enormous space and long tables suggested that long ago this place had once dined dozens of inhabitants. It reminded Zelda of the great hall in Hyrule castle, where she, her father, Impa, and a few of her father's friends and acquaintances would eat together from time to time.

Now, instead of servants waiting on them there were rows of Stalfos lined up by the wall, awaiting orders. The monsters' jaws clattered when they saw the princess enter the room. It wasn't a welcoming clatter, however. It was menacing, and from the way they leered at her it almost seemed as though they were shocked that the master of the Palace was walking around with someone like her. One of them took a step forward with a sharp hiss, reaching over its back to grab its exposed ribcage. Just before it could throw the bone at the princess, Vaati sent a menacing glare and gave a small snap. The monster's ankle bones shattered to dust by a powerful impact and it crumpled to the ground, clawing helplessly in an attempt to stand upright again to no avail.

Still with a frigid glare directed towards the remaining Stalfos, Vaati snarled between his teeth, "apologies, Princess, for what you just had to see."

Trying to figure out what Vaati was up to, Zelda gave one slow nod. The sorcerer seemed to remember his role in the game he was playing, then, and pulled the seat back for her before she sat down. It was a half-hearted and lazy attempt, however, for he himself had already sat down and had done the whole routine with magic. Yes, something was definitely bothering him.

But what?

They sat in front of an empty table, waiting for the food. Neither of them spoke a word, which made the experience even more uncomfortable. Vaati didn't seem to want to expend any effort in striking up a conversation, and simply sat there looking far into the distance, out of the tall windows that lined the great hall. Zelda, meanwhile, didn't want to be the first one to say something so she also stubbornly kept her silence. Of course she had a million things she wanted to ask him, like what he had expected from all of this right now, but she wasn't going to ask him. Oh no. She was going to make this as awkward as possible.

There was some movement on the other end of the room, and Zelda noticed another Stalfos walking towards them clumsily, carrying a tray full of food, as though it weren't used to this kind of job. Once it reached the table, it set down the plates in front of them one by one, as gently as it could, while Vaati kept his frightening gaze on it the entire time.

Emotion was difficult to read on these fleshless creatures, but Zelda was pretty sure the Stalfos was terrified. However, it seemed to be more terrified of _her_ than Vaati. The monster pushed the plates towards her quickly as though she were hot fire, withdrawing its fingers as fast as it could. It was so bad that Vaati had to interrupt it once with a warning 'tsk' which almost made it worse, but the Stalfos eventually got itself together. It hurried out of the room, relieved, but not before Vaati ordered it to toss its injured comrade, the one still clawing around helplessly on the floor, off of a balcony somewhere.

The food was, well…

Zelda stared blankly at the plates in front of her. _Pretty disappointing?_ she thought.

"Were you expecting something else?" Vaati's voice shot from across the table, noting Zelda's expression. It was the first time he'd said anything to her since he'd met her in her room.

"To be honest," her demeanor stiffened from hearing the sorcerer's voice unexpectedly, "I thought you could do better."

The food was not something that would be served in front of kings. It was simple food, like some lightly toasted bread with jam, some fruit and berries, and potato pancakes. There wasn't even an egg. Or bacon. Back when she'd been served food in her room, she'd assumed that Vaati was giving her the simplest kind of food, food she wasn't exactly used to as a royal, for the purpose of teasing her. She hadn't considered the fact that he hadn't exactly been living so luxuriously either.

"Yeah, well who do you suppose does the cooking?" Vaati scoffed, as he bit into his toast. "If you think those brainless bone piles can cook, and consider the fact that they don't even eat, then you are terribly naïve my dear."

Now that she knew that she had been eating the same food as Vaati, another thing occurred to her. "And why was all the food vegetarian?"

"We don't stock meat," Vaati replied in a bored tone. He'd already finished at least half of his food, as though he wanted breakfast to be over already. Zelda had only taken three bites.

"But can't you?"

"I see no need to," the sorcerer shrugged. When Zelda continued to give him an unsatisfied frown, he sighed tiredly. "I don't eat meat." Then, his gaze hardened. "What, is anything wrong with that?"

"No, just… I guess I didn't expect that," Zelda said quietly. She let the conversation go, as the sorcerer finished his plate with a huff, leaned back in his chair, and looked bored as he waited for Zelda to finish hers. Vaati… a vegetarian? Her fault, she supposed, for having an assumption that vegetarians were generally life-loving people who didn't have psychotic tendencies. He didn't really fit the stereotypical vegetarian image.

The princess tried to finish her food as fast as she could. It was extremely awkward trying to eat while Vaati, who had already finished, was watching her, looking bored out of his mind. He obviously wasn't enjoying having to eat breakfast with her right now. She asked herself once more: just what were his intentions in inviting her to eat?

As soon as she had finished her plate, Vaati abruptly stood up and walked to the end of the hall, just stopping short of the door to wait for her impatiently. Even while Zelda was still wiping her lips with a napkin, a Stalfos immediately swooped over to clean the plates away. It was as though everyone just wanted her to leave already.

Zelda stubbornly remained in her seat, refusing to move until she had at least an explanation on what the sorcerer had in mind. Vaati's foot twitched, as though he'd been just about to tap it impatiently before he decided against it.

"We're taking a walk," he said, his lips flattening into thin lines. He held out his hand, indicating Zelda should hurry up and join him.

"Why?" Zelda didn't budge from her seat. She didn't see why she had to go take a walk with Vaati, so she wasn't going to follow him without a reasonable answer.

Vaati spoke slowly, his patience running thin. However, he was doing an admirable job not throwing any temper tantrums. She would have expected at least one by now. "Because that's what couples do," he said flatly, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, that is not what couples do," Zelda retorted. She crossed her arms over her chest and sniffed.

"Then what do they do? _!"_

"They do things that are enjoyable to both parties involved, and neither of us seems to be enjoying any of this."

"Then enjoy it," Vaati snapped, flicking his wrists swiftly in small circles. As he did so, the princess was unceremoniously picked up out of her seat by a small gust and she stumbled forward as her feet unexpectedly hit the floor. Another small wind pushed her forcefully towards the impatient sorcerer, and he stuck out his arm for her to take. "Because I'm telling you we're going for a wonderful walk in the scenic gardens."

 _I don't get it at all! What is he up to?_! Zelda thought frantically as she was forced to follow him out the door. _And for all of his mature, haughty demeanor, he sure does act like a brat sometimes._

He led her through the Palace with purpose, so he definitely had a place in mind, but at the same time he had a scowl plastered on his face the entire time indicating he was not having fun at all. Again, why go through with this if this was such a chore? Zelda didn't get it at all. Just yesterday he had clearly told her to stay out of his way because he was extremely busy, but now it seemed like he was wasting his time. There was no way Vaati would spend his time like this unless there was something for him to gain. But what was it? Something told her that this sudden interest in escorting her around the Palace had to do with her scare attempt yesterday of letting herself get attacked by monsters, but she wasn't seeing the connection.

_Was he really actually doing this for the simple reason that 'this is what couples do?' I don't buy that at all!_

When they reached the gardens, there was a group of Bubbles gathered near the fountain in the middle. There were about half a dozen wandering aimlessly around the grass and topiaries, in various shades of red or blue fire. They all turned to look at the master of the Palace and the princess when they approached the garden. Some of them looked at Vaati nervously and fled after a few seconds of staring, while about half remained in place, watching Zelda cautiously. Their jaws chattered as Vaati forcefully escorted her closer to the floating skulls. Even though the garden was relatively spacious and the two of them could have avoided the group of Bubbles easily, for some reason Vaati took her straight to the group of monsters. It was very confrontational, and very unnecessary. Zelda slowed down, not wanting to walk right into the remaining monsters whose chattering were becoming increasingly hostile, but Vaati simply tugged her arm forcefully and gave her a stern glance to follow. "We're going to sit here," Vaati announced, still with a somewhat bored tone. He pointed her over to the fountain, and Zelda frowned in dismay. The place Vaati wanted to sit was directly in front of the angry Bubbles.

"But that's like picking a fight with those Bubbles!" Zelda objected.

For the first time that morning, the semblance of a smile appeared on Vaati's face. It wasn't a very nice smile, however, and he looked like he was ready to hurt things. "Good. Because I'm going to teach them a lesson."

Before Zelda could ask just what he meant, he walked her over to the fountain where the Bubbles were becoming increasingly agitated. Once Zelda was only a few paces away from the nearest bubble, it gave a howling wail and shot towards her as it burst into flames. Vaati immediately shot a compressed blast of air towards it, and the monster ricocheted far into the distance like a cannon ball. The remaining two Bubbles faltered when they saw their companion mercilessly shot through the air, and they glanced towards the sorcerer uneasily, their fires diminishing timidly. All it took was Vaati's warning glare for the two of them to scatter away in fright.

It was then that Zelda understood the purpose of her walk and breakfast with Vaati, and it _did_ have something to do with her reckless behavior yesterday. He was purposely parading her around the castle and setting an example on what would happen to any monster who decided to hurt her. He was making it very visible that she was with him, his possession, and anyone who dared to damage his possession was going to have a bad day.

She was kind of surprised, to be honest, how well her scare tactic had worked. She knew Vaati would be wary of her trying the same stunt again, but for him to go out of his way to make sure the monsters wouldn't bother her again? She hadn't expected him to do something like that so soon.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Vaati had already sat down by himself, staring out at the clouds blankly. He hadn't even told her to sit down with him, and looked as though he could care less what she did as long as she remained nearby. His vision wasn't focused anywhere in particular, and from the way his head tilted slightly, thoughtfully, it seemed as though he were preoccupied by some troublesome issue.

He actually looked tired.

Zelda frowned, trying to make sense of things, and stood there for some time before she finally decided to sit down. She didn't sit next to him, oh no, and instead took a place in the grass. She was glad she'd picked out the dress she tore up: it was annoying to sit down sometimes in long fancy dresses. Sitting with her back towards Vaati, she also stared out at the magnificent view in front of her, the trickle of water from the fountain and the occasional clatter of nearby Bubbles the only source of noise.

Vaati was so different than how he had been these past few weeks. In fact, he was less energetic and full of himself than even yesterday! Something must have happened between the last time he'd seen her, and Zelda was dying to know what.

_I'm the only one stopping Hyrule from being destroyed by monsters, and you're ruining my efforts to keep the castle intact._

The princess caught her breath, remembering Vaati's words when she tried to jog her memory about what had happened the day before. What could he have possibly meant by that? It almost sounded as though he was having trouble getting the monsters to listen to him. Wasn't he supposed to have full control of the monsters? Weren't they supposed to listen to them? What was Vaati doing right now, and was that why he was so tired?

She jolted when something light and fuzzy touched the back of her neck. Her hand slapped back instinctively, and she whirled around, ready to strike. What she found, however, was Vaati sneering down at her from his spot on the fountain and a feather on the grass right next to her. The sorcerer's mischievous smile had returned only for a moment, amused by the princess's reactions and her offended expression, before it flipped immediately back down into his tired frown. "Keep it," he ordered. "I don't want it anymore."

She looked down at the grass at the feather again with an annoyed frown of her own. "Why would I even want that?" It was the feather of a very large bird, and it gradually faded from white to a magnificent royal purple with a maroon band in the middle: whatever bird this came from, it was no doubt an impressive creature. Still, as beautiful as it was, she had no idea what she was supposed to do with it. Also, she still hated purple.

"Because I gave it to you," Vaati scowled irritably. "Just take it."

 _Wow. He is such a huge brat today,_ Zelda thought, but she wordlessly took the feather and put it on her lap. Vaati was… turning out to be quite an unexpected character. With his initial entrance at the Four Sword sanctuary as the demon eye, she had expected the typical horrible monster from fairy tales. The ones who probably gloated all day long in their stronghold about how great they were, and how they were going to crush everyone flat. When he turned out to be some kind of pretty boy, she still kind of expected the same thing: gloating all day long about how great he was and how his master plan was unstoppable. Oh and she'd expected him to get her to forcefully attend a wedding ceremony and force her to participate in all kinds of romantic charades because that was what villains did. She expected him to be an overconfident bastard who was always sneering and putting her down.

He was some of those things, but was apparently more lazy than she gave him credit for. He sneered and gloated, sure, but there was also a side to him that resembled an immature manchild who didn't have a lot of patience for most of the things on the 'kidnapping villain to-do list.'

Zelda noticed, then, something peculiar about the feather on her lap. It was a little flat along the edges and some parts of it, especially the middle where the feather was the firmest, had lost some of its original glow. It was almost as though someone had rubbed their thumb along it too many times, absentmindedly, giving it a dull polish.

"You probably picked this up from the ground just now. This is garbage," Zelda scoffed with a shrug. She knew this wasn't true from her observations, but there was something she wanted to know about this feather. Provocation was a necessary risk.

Vaati's nose twitched in annoyance, but Zelda couldn't see it since her back was turned to him. "I received it from an acquaintance yesterday," he said slowly, "and one you would do well not to cross."

 _Bingo_. Vaati was preoccupied by something that had happened yesterday. He had met an acquaintance yesterday and received the feather. He was still upset enough today that he wasn't acting like his usual overconfident self.

 _The acquaintance,_ Zelda's eyes flickered brightly for a split second as she thought about possible things she could do to ruin Vaati's plans. _If he can make Vaati this agitated, then maybe he can help me!_

Of course… there was a chance that the acquaintance was going to be just as bad, or even worse, than Vaati. Vaati didn't want her dead. Yet. What if his acquaintance did? She needed to know more before she could actually do anything about this possible source of help. "Oh?" she tried her best not to sound too interested, "and who might that be?"

Whether Vaati caught the slight eagerness in her voice or not, he stared at her with narrowed eyes, debating whether or not he should even tell her such things. Zelda was glad the sorcerer couldn't see her face when he disappointed her with his next words. "Someone you won't be meeting and therefore won't have to know."

The sorcerer glanced up at the sky, then, and peered at the sun that was high up above them. Judging from where the sun was, it was a little past noon. Lazily, Vaati stood up and walked over to the princess sitting on the grass and held out his hand for her to take. "Stand up. I'm taking you back to your room. I've got matters to attend to that don't involve you."

Zelda stood up, making a point not to take his hand, and brushed the grass off of her dress. Without a word, she began to walk back towards her assigned quarters, leaving Vaati behind in a clear message saying she didn't want anything to do with him. As soon as she'd made five steps away on her own, her left arm was yanked backwards by someone grabbing hold of it, and before she knew it Vaati had linked arms with her. She turned to snap at him in protest, but shrank back a little when she noticed his glare.

"I said," he said in a hushed but deadly tone, "I'm going to walk you back. Know your place." He was tired and lazy, and therefore especially pissy today. He was definitely not in the mood to play nice.

Zelda bottled up her sigh, and silently let Vaati lead her back to her room. She knew this was part of the routine to systematically teach the monsters not to bother her, as well as further solidify her place as his captive and prize. Although she wanted nothing more than to defy him, she decided to keep the peace: all she had to do was to be patient for a few more days, and then she would be able to wander around the Palace without fear of the monsters. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to start formulating a plan for her escape once she had that extra bit of freedom.

With these thoughts, the princess was escorted back to her chambers by the wind mage. In the gardens, the purple feather the princess had left behind tumbled across the grass as the breeze picked up. It rolled off the edge of the balcony, and rode onto the wind that swept it high up near the Palace rooftops. It finally landed on the tallest tower, almost like some kind of flag. Almost like some kind of challenge.


	6. I Need a Hero. Or a Vaati.

A week went by with that same routine, and although Zelda was resentful of it at first, a small part of her was kind of glad that there was more to her day now other than to sit in her room alone. Vaati would come around to her room around breakfast, they would eat together, and then they would go for a walk somewhere until it was close to noon. He would always look as though the entire routine was a bother, and she would always respond in kind. Should she dare say it? It actually made for an interesting morning.

 _No! That's just my boredom talking!_ She shook her head fervently as her troublesome thoughts invaded her mind while she waited for breakfast. Vaati noticed her looking muddled about something, and a devilish grin appeared on his face as he saw it as an invitation to comment. As the days went by, he became more and more like how he used to be instead of his tired self; perhaps because he'd solved, or was in the process of solving, whatever it was that had bothered him. With each passing day he turned into that insufferable bastard who kept her on her toes.

"Something on your mind, princess?" His grin said that he clearly meant to start their morning exchange.

The princess's back straightened immediately as she regained her cool composure. "Nothing worthy of your precious time," she responded, her words containing undertones of sarcasm.

"I actually have a little more time now, as things have been sorting themselves out quite nicely over the last couple of days," Vaati leaned back in his seat and gave a slight nod to a Stalfos who had walked up to their table with some food. The monsters were slightly less jittery around the princess now, since they knew just where she stood among them; she was clearly above them in importance, and that was all they had to know. It was the unknown factor of who and what she was regarding their hierarchy, Zelda learned later through observation, that had made them so hostile towards her. The sorcerer continued, clearly in a good mood today. "Time may be a precious commodity, but it is well wasted on a beautiful woman like you."

Ah yes, the empty compliments, often paired with a subtle insult. They certainly increased in frequency the more cheerful the wind mage was. The compliment would catch the listener's attention, and the insult would prevent them from thinking of anything other than Vaati for the next few minutes. He really should have a forked tongue with that mouth of his. The princess was pretty sure he meant absolutely none of the compliments, but she had to admit there were times he knew how to slide them into conversation so smoothly that a girl couldn't help but be flattered.

A girl might be flattered, yes, but she saw through his tricks. He would never have the luxury of seeing her blush. The princess ignored him, but he was in the mood to talk today.

With a grin, he leaned forward towards the princess. "I was thinking of paying your precious hero a visit today," he pressed, watching her for a reaction.

And for a split second he did get a reaction before Zelda pulled an emotionless mask over her face. It had been one of hope, her eyes brightening from hearing about Link, and then a flicker of worry for his safety. As a champion of the Triforce of Wisdom, she could sense how powerful someone's magical affinity was, and from what she could tell Vaati wasn't bluffing when he spoke of being powerful. Link needed all of the help he could get to defeat Vaati: was he ready for such a confrontation?

"I was planning on getting rid of him right now. You know, before he becomes too much of a bother. Wouldn't you agree that my foresight is amazing?" Vaati looked pleased with himself, while Zelda tried her best not to panic. "You've no doubt heard of the old legends regarding myself? How some hero rose up to defeat me? Hahaha well my only mistake then was not getting rid of the hero sooner before he got used to his powers. I'll acknowledge he can be a right pain if he's left alone too long, so I'm going to rid of him right now. Today."

Zelda took several deep breaths to calm herself, and then set aside her fork, losing her appetite. To let him push her this far today… bravo. A little voice in her head reprimanded her for that thought.

 _You're praising him now? In this situation?_!

The princess's gaze hardened, mentally shushing the voice in her head. _To defeat one's enemy you must respect him first. Which is why…_

"You will not win," she spoke slowly now, the brief waver in her voice vanishing as she regained her composure.

"Oh?" Vaati's grin widened and he set aside his plate, leaning forward even more as he did so. "What makes you so sure? At this moment in time, I also have the largest, most powerful army in the region of various monsters who listen to my every command. Against that as well as the most powerful sorcerer in the world, what can one boy with a sword even hope to accomplish?"

Before Zelda could reply, one of Vaati's small sentry eyes literally came flying through the door like a ghost and fluttered around his face hurriedly. His grin vanishing and returning once more to that look of annoyance, he swatted it away before he snapped "What do you want?" He'd just been having a great time with the current conversation, and Vaati was none too happy that he'd been interrupted.

Zelda watched, wondering what was going on, while the sorcerer entered some kind of silent communication with the sentry eye. From time to time, he would give a verbal outburst of which snippets she could catch.

"What do you mean, the moblins are disobeying my orders? _!_ I thought this issue was resolved a few days ago!"

The princess couldn't help but smile in the face of Vaati's exasperation that things weren't going quite as smoothly as he'd thought. She couldn't help it; the timing was just too perfect. "You were saying something about your army that listens to your every command? Was that right?"

Vaati's lips twitched as though he were refraining from using harsh words, but his entire face seemed to telegraph, "Shut up princess." Instead, he stood up abruptly, leaving his breakfast half-eaten. "I have some urgent business to attend to. Spend your time however you like." He stomped out towards the door, muttering curses under his breath angrily while the sentry eye followed him quietly. Then, he seemed to remember that he didn't have to walk around the castle and stopped just short by the door, clenching his fists with a growl and then immediately teleporting away to somewhere.

Zelda was left alone in the huge hall with the meal for two half eaten in front of her. The small grin that had cracked onto her face gradually grew until she burst into giggles, and then to laughter. She hadn't laughed so freely in such a long time.

"What? It was funny!" she waved a hand towards some of the Stalfos who were looking on at her fearfully; not many monsters laughed at Vaati and lived to spread the joke. Her shoulders were relaxed, and she stretched liberally, as though all of the tension she'd had in the last hour had finally dissipated. After some time she eventually stood up, and slowly walked outside the room and to the greater part of the Palace.

It was… the first time she'd actually been able to walk out of the Palace on her own, without Vaati watching her every move or the monsters attacking her. The Bubbles and Stalfos merely gave her a glance as she walked past them, no longer holding hostile intentions. Of course she wasn't completely free because she still had a sentry eye following her just in case, but at the moment she didn't care.

For the first time in a long time, she was free.

She laughed, reveling in the freedom, and did a small twirl with her arms spread out. The monsters flinched at her sudden movement and a few of them scattered, and she laughed at them too. Smiling mischievously, she shouted at the remaining ones. "I'm crazy!" She held her sides laughing to herself as the rest of the monsters fled, and she ignored the sentry eye that was looking at her disapprovingly.

After calming down a bit, she walked over to the edge of the Palace, holding onto the same handrails where she'd first been attacked, and looked down below. There was nothing but clouds beneath her, and a few brief glimpses of Hyrule fields between the clouds far, far below. It was a surreal place. A magical place. It was actually a beautiful, serene place here especially now that she had nothing to fear.

Nothing, except…

Her good mood dissipated when she started to think about the sorcerer again.

Zelda frowned. She'd had maybe five to ten minutes of brief happiness before thoughts of Vaati had ruined everything once again.

_That's right. I can't be wasting my time like this. I need to find a way to escape._

She turned around, back to the heart of the Palace, and her heart began to sink. It was still beautiful, but with a much darker kind of beauty. Shadows touched the walls where the pillars blocked light, and small magical torches lit by shy poes lined the further interior. She didn't really know what was further inside the Palace, and she felt a little nervous venturing there for the first time. What would she find there, and what would she do if she ran into Vaati? Even though he'd said she could go where she pleased, she didn't know how much he meant those words.

What if she found something terrible? Or even worse, what if she found… nothing at all?

_It's no use wondering. I have to go._

Biting her lip, she glanced over at the empty space where she'd scared away a bunch of monsters just a few minutes ago. _That's right, I don't have anything to be afraid of._ She clenched her fists, and began to walk back towards the center of the Palace determinedly. _Not even of him._

Zelda made her way through the vast, magnificent Palace. It was more imposing than Hyrule castle: although Hyrule castle was far bigger than most structures in the region, it was nothing compared to the Palace of Winds. The floating Palace was unrestricted by the absence of surrounding settlements unlike Hyrule castle, and it was almost like a city with its various extensions and tall domes and towers that spread itself across the sky.

As she walked down one of the corridors of the Palace, she found herself turning her head left and right, not quite sure where to start, and definitely not sure where she even was. As a floating palace it didn't even have a castle format she was used to, such as such simple rules like 'the kitchen and servants' quarters on the lower floors' because there really was no such thing as a lower floor. Maybe it was structured horizontally? Zelda really had no clue.

 _Well first thing I have to do,_ Zelda made a mental note to herself, _is to get used to the Palace layout. Otherwise he will definitely have an advantage over me if I ever do confront him._

She explored a bit more, and began to realize that most of the rooms seemed to be unused, or mostly occupied by the resident monsters. She encountered one or two rooms that looked as though Vaati may have been there at some point in time, but the only judgments she had to go by was the fact that these rooms tended to be more furnished than the others. Neither of the rooms held anything of interest, except maybe the fact that one room had an unused piano that was new enough to suggest Vaati had brought it there himself, but so un-tuned that he must have not played it for years. It was understandable that most of the rooms were unused and empty, since one person hardly needed all the rooms the Palace had to offer, but it made her search for an escape or an advantage all the more frustrating.

Just as she was about to take a break from her search to think about a different way to go about things, she heard the faint echoes of a voice talking, or rather shouting, some distance away. Her ears perked up, and she peered around the corner and down the hall where the voice was coming from. It sounded a whole lot like Vaati.

She could feel her heartbeat rising when she heard his voice, and a mix of nervousness and excitement welled up in her. Maybe she could catch him doing… something? After all, she still didn't know what it was that he did while he was away, and this was the perfect opportunity to find out. She glanced at the sentry who was still following her. She was going to have to be quick so that she could find out what he was doing before the pesky little eye servant reported her activities to its master.

She hurried down the hall to where the voice was coming from, trying to remember everything from her Sheikah training about moving swiftly but quietly, blending into the shadows. Once upon a time she had gawked at the idea of wasting valuable time to learn about self-defense, but now she was extremely grateful that Impa and her father had made her learn. She finally made it just by the edge of the arched doorway that led to some kind of spacious lounge, and she pressed her cheeks to the wall to cautiously peer into the room.

" _If any of you so much as touches a brick on Hyrule castle without my orders I will personally destroy every last one of you!"_

Zelda shrunk back from the booming voice coming from the room. It was definitely the sorcerer's but it was much… deeper? Like it was his voice but multiplied several times to have a very discordant effect. The princess looked back at the sentry following her again. She noticed that it was looking particularly distressed now, flitting about back and forth between the edge of the doorway and her, as though it wanted to tell its master what the princess was up to but at the same time unable to do so because of some executive order.

Zelda bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully, and then with a little more courage she looked into the room again. If the sentry was going to report her, it would have done so much earlier. She was going to be okay. For now.

The princess caught her breath when she finally got a better look at what was going on in the room. Vaati was there, but he was no longer taking the form of the pale skinned Hylian. Instead, there was an enormous winged eye floating in the middle of the room, shaking its gigantic claws angrily at a small gold-framed mirror. A different voice, much fainter than Vaati's booming one, could be heard coming from the mirror, and Zelda realized the mirror was for some kind of remote communication.

The other voice was choppy, slow, and deliberate, as though the speaker wasn't very familiar with the Hylian language. At the same time, it stated its words with a sense of stubborn finality that was probably part of the reason why Vaati was so upset.

"Can't kill us. Lord Vaati won't risk. Are too important."

" _Has it occurred to you imbeciles,"_ Vaati spoke slowly, his words shaking ever so slightly in barely contained rage, " _that it is becoming an increasingly appealing idea to simply kill you all right now?"_

"Won't do it. We know," the voice responded with its still-unyielding attitude. "We are biggest army. Strongest army. We no match alone, but we work with others. Others unlike but like us. Bokoblins. Miniblins. Lizalfos. You kill us, you lose all."

" _Is that a threat?"_

"Wizzrobes tell us. They tell us we can take what's ours by own power. Taught us we are strong. Stronger than anyone. We will not wait. We will attack. We will take Hyrule sundown tomorrow."

Zelda paled at those words, and she had to stop herself from shouting at the voice in the mirror to reconsider. Thoughts swam in her head in a panicked flurry as she thought about what this all meant, and the various horrible scenarios that might unfold at her castle within the next day. She was brought back to reality by a rattling, ground-shaking crash when the demon eye smashed his claws against the floor, cracking it in several places. The princess looked up at the sorcerer in fearful surprise at how positively livid he was.

" _That castle is mine and mine alone,"_ Vaati roared, " _Prepare yourselves you idiots. I will make a personal visit to your miserable swamp at dawn. One wrong word and you can count on it being the last time you see daylight!"_

There was a brief pause on the other end, as though the voice was finally considering what Vaati was saying. Some background grunts and chatters could be heard as the voice appeared to hold council with some other people. After a few seconds, the voice came back and responded as stubbornly as ever before it hung up.

"You can't. We strong. We see daylight."

"…"

Vaati, with his gigantic single eye, stared at the mirror blankly.

Then he screamed.

" _AAAAAUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

He threw the mirror across the room where it smashed to pieces against a wall, and he flew around the room in circles, spinning around and around furiously with his great bulk as though he wanted to smash a lot more things but was also aware he shouldn't go around wrecking his own home. Eventually, he noticed out of the corner of his eye one of his sentry eyes flitting around nervously just by the entrance of the door.

" _I thought I told you not to bother me!"_ he hissed, the great eye narrowing dangerously. Then, he noticed someone else behind the sentry, her hands squeezed together in front of her and trying her best not to look scared in the face of one extremely angry demon eye. " _And what are you doing here?_!" His voice rose even louder as he rounded on Zelda.

"Take me with you."

" _What?_!"

"I said," Zelda spoke, unperturbed, "take me with you."

It took a few minutes for Vaati to register what the princess was talking about. When he did, he was even angrier. Still in his demon form and not caring in the least about appearances, the sorcerer clashed his claws together threateningly. " _How dare you eavesdrop on me, princess."_

"I'm sorry. I was lost, and I heard your voice. I couldn't help myself," the princess replied as smoothly as she could, playing the helpless-damsel card. She didn't dare say she was looking for a way to defeat him.

The apology appeared to appease Vaati for a moment, and he backed off a few feet from the princess, instead going off to fume by himself in a corner of the room. After a few minutes, he took one last liberty to blow up a vase into thousands of little ceramic pieces and then returned back to his Hylian self. His face was taught with tension when he finally turned around to face her, and his scowl was much more prominent than usual. "You, my dear, are going nowhere," he growled with finality.

"I don't know what exactly is going on, but from what I heard I…" the princess hesitated, not liking the look on the sorcerer's face. _Oh… I have to choose my words carefully. It'll be a huge dent in his ego if I suggest in any way that he has no control of the monsters whatsoever._ "I understand that my people may be in trouble. I cannot sit here and allow that to happen, so please, let me try to negotiate."

"You? _Negotiate_ with moblins?" Vaati scoffed. "There is no such thing as negotiating with monsters, princess."

"At least let me try," Zelda pulled back when Vaati walked over to her and grabbed her arm, muttering under his breath that they were done and they were leaving. The sorcerer's lips were thin flat lines of irritation when he looked back where the princess stood resolutely. "Please, let me help you." The words left a bitter taste in her mouth, and it didn't go unnoticed by the sorcerer either.

He crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders, but seemed slightly, slightly more inclined to listen. "Now that's a lie if I ever heard one," he frowned, but looked at the princess expectantly as though daring her to convince him otherwise.

 _Let not my pride get in the way,_ the princess told herself as she took a deep breath, preparing her next words. As much as she hated to say this, she had no other choice given the recent developments. "Please," she tried again, her words just barely above a whisper, "I need your help."

Vaati's emotion was unreadable, and he stared at her for several long, uncomfortable seconds in which the princess tried her best not to fidget. A flicker of surprise may have crossed his face a few times as though he had trouble believing what he'd just heard, but for the most part he kept an admirable poker face. He didn't even jeer at her for asking him of all people for help, or further force her to beg. He very easily could have done those things, but instead he kept staring at her, the cogs in his head spinning.

Just when Zelda was beginning to think she had failed in convincing him, Vaati walked over and took her by the arm. Finally, that sneer she had been expecting all along appeared on his face. "I think you meant to say, 'I need you,' but I'll ignore your mistake. For now."


	7. Crash Course Monsters 101

"Wake up."

Zelda stirred, and when she opened her eyes groggily she saw Vaati looking down at her from the edge of the bed, his arms crossed over his chest impatiently. The sky was still a dark navy blue and the stars were still out; the sun hadn't risen yet.

"Get dressed. And look as presentable as you can," Vaati unceremoniously threw her a dress that he'd picked out from her closet and motioned with his hands to tell her to hurry up. "Stick to the plan."

The Plan.

Zelda was wide awake now, even though she'd only had maybe five or six hours of sleep. She hurried to the restroom to wash her face and change into the dress the sorcerer had tossed at her. Her foot got tangled in her pink dress a few times in her hurry and she nervously fumbled her tiara onto her head. Even though they'd discussed their plan for dealing with the moblins extensively yesterday to the point she'd felt pretty confident, now that the time had come to execute it perfectly she couldn't help but feel nervous.

Yesterday, as soon as Vaati had grudgingly agreed to let Zelda talk to the moblins in an attempt to negotiate, he had dragged her over to a table to give her the rundown on monster culture. At first he had mostly explained not in an attempt to help her, but to tell her why it was such a bad idea.

He'd smiled, pityingly, at her naïveté. "When I said there's no negotiating with moblins, dear, I really did mean there's no negotiating with moblins. You have to understand that monsters do not understand the concept of negotiation."

"That's because we've never tried to negotiate peace with them," she blurted out, and then hesitated when she realized she'd spoken the ugly truth she'd known all along. Hyrule had never tried to negotiate anything with the monsters in all its history, even though some of them were capable of communicating in Hylian. Did that make Hyrule unreasonably discriminatory…?

"Hmph. And I suppose if I let you return to Hyrule now you're suddenly going to pass along peace treaties to all of the monster clans? Don't be ridiculous. There's a reason why negotiation has never been an option, and it's not because you idealist Hylians never tried." Vaati snorted condescendingly. "Their society, if you can even call it that, is based on power. Power is law. It's kind of the same for you Hylians, though more direct. If you so much as try to negotiate, that suggests you are too weak to demand order with your own power. It's weakness to negotiate. They will attack you if you try."

He snickered then. "And besides, you don't have what it takes to intimidate anyone. You're such a sheltered little thing."

And then she'd snapped. She didn't really remember what had happened after that because she had been _so angry_ to be judged like that, but a few minutes later and they were civilly discussing how to go about… negotiating… with moblins. Vaati had taken her somewhat seriously then, and even though he grumbled about how "none of this is going to work" he still made some effort to inform her as much as possible and brainstorm ideas.

Except there was one thing she'd had to poke and prod him about to gather info on, and that was…

"So why don't you just, you know," she wondered briefly if there was a tactful way to say it, and then decided no, there wasn't, "attack them first if you don't want them to assault Hyrule castle?"

"Oh, is that how you do things, princess? Although if I remember correctly I suppose you did imply if our positions had been reversed you would have killed me instead of kept me alive, isn't that right?" Vaati feigned shock mockingly.

"I… no! That's not what I meant at all!"

"I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to understand the words 'attack' and 'kill,' princess."

Zelda gritted her teeth, confused and upset that Vaati was making it sound like she was the bad guy and he was the good guy. "I meant," she said slowly, picking her words carefully, "it just seemed like the kind of thing you would do. You would only have an advantage to set an example to all of the monsters by getting rid of the disobedient ones."

"And now you're starting to think like one of us," Vaati chuckled softly with a wolfish grin on his face as he watched Zelda's cheeks burn up in crimson.

The princess wanted to scream. He'd won his round of mental dueling _again_ before she even knew they'd started.

"However, while that is true, I would like to keep that army if possible. Moblins, while infuriatingly stubborn at times, are versatile as soldiers. I would regrettably have to let Hyrule fall because… yes."

Zelda's head shot up. She was sure she hadn't imagined how Vaati had stopped himself from saying something else. Kind of like a verbal backpedal. Her eyes searched his face, and while Vaati looked back at her like it was no big deal, he eventually tired of the interrogatory peering and his eyebrows scrunched together towards the middle of his forehead.

"What?" he demanded.

"Yes?"

"Yes what?"

"That's what you just… never mind."

The princess searched his face for a little while longer, at the same time kind of enjoying how uncomfortable he was looking. It was a good look on him. Eventually, she came to a conclusion and decided to poke further. "There's something else, isn't there?"

"About what?" Vaati growled.

"Why you can't attack them."

"Of course I can attack them! I just… don't want to."

She could see his usual confidence breaking. He'd broken off eye contact, instead staring everywhere but her like some guilty child. She was actually surprised how easy it was to get him this flustered. There could only be one thing that could make him this uneasy. "That acquaintance of yours," she began, and when she saw that very faint grimace along the edge of his lips, she knew she had him where she wanted him, "he has something to do with this, doesn't he?"

And that was when Vaati decided enough was enough. He'd forgotten for a moment, since Zelda had seemed so sure of herself, so confident, that _he_ was the one who was supposed to be laying down all the rules. He was the master, and no one else! He stood up abruptly, scribbled down some last minute notes onto the piece of paper he was outlining their plan on, and slid it towards Zelda with more force than necessary. "So what if he does?" he snarled, and then stormed out of the room.

Yes, that was all she'd been able to get from Vaati regarding the mysterious acquaintance. It meant this still had something to do with whatever it was he'd been upset about a week ago, but beyond that she didn't know what it all meant.

Zelda fixed her hair quickly, tying it into a ponytail behind her so that it was out of her face, and brushed out the tangles from the ends. She needed to hurry so they would get to the moblins in time, but she also needed to look as presentable as she could. Part of the plan required her to look her best. Once she was dressed, she headed out towards the door where Vaati stood waiting. "How do I look?"

Leaning against the doorframe, Vaati looked up when she walked into the room. He eyed her down as she did a small circle in her original pink royalty dress with the Hylian crest, her white cape flowing around her. He pushed off of the doorframe and stretched, and with a toothy grin he suddenly disappeared from the room in a cloud of purple-black smoke. Immediately afterwards, a huge claw shot through the doorframe and snatched the princess roughly out the door.

" _Perfect,"_ the demon eye growled smugly, and then shot towards the open sky, flying into the night in a powerful wind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _I should have expected that,_ Zelda thought to herself unhappily once she'd gotten over her initial surprise that she was stuck in the claws of an enormous bat-winged black eye. _He's usually Hylian only for my convenience, probably._ She was so used to seeing him as a Hylian that it was sometimes all too easy to forget that he was actually pretty monstrous. And while it was fine that she forgot about appearances occasionally, she hoped she wouldn't end up forgetting his true nature once she started working with him. _This is just a temporary situation, though. Once we get the monsters to stop attacking Hyrule, I can put all of my focus into bringing him down._

They flew through the sky at surprising speed, especially considering how small Vaati's wings were compared to the rest of his bulk. The wind was probably helping them, and from what she could just barely see over the edge of the claws that held her she could make out a small tornado in their wake. Additionally, even though they were moving rather quickly, the wind never got in her face and instead seemed to pass around them, letting them through instead of making them fight against it.

Just as the light came creeping up past the horizon, Zelda realized that they were no longer flying over the familiar fields around greater Hyrule. Instead, she could make out an expanse of trees growing out of dark green stagnant water. They were flying much lower now, and she thought she imagined something looking up at them from between the trees from time to time. She'd never ventured so far into the outskirts of Hyrule, and she guiltily thought about how this might have even been her first time. As a princess of a region her duties surely extended beyond the walls of Castle Town? When she returned, she was definitely going to make more of an effort to reach out to the more remote locations of Hyrule.

Vaati finally came to a stop at a clearing in the swamp where there was a large patch of dry land. The grass rustled as he hovered over it. Vaati gently released Zelda onto the grass, and the princess took a few seconds to stretch: while the sorcerer hadn't treated her badly during the flight, it hadn't exactly been comfortable either. As soon as she saw motion at the edge of the clearing, however, she straightened up and took as regal a pose as she could manage given the situation. She needed to look like the most royal woman to have ever set foot on this earth if they wanted to have even the slightest chance to succeed.

Pig-like creatures towering around six to seven feet high and clad in crudely assembled armor came into view. As dawn finally broke, Zelda realized that they were completely surrounded, and she edged a little closer to Vaati uneasily. She had never been in the presence of so many monsters at once before. Even though the sorcerer had warned her that she should expect a welcome such as this, it didn't make it any less intimidating.

_I can't… I can't be nervous now. If they sense I am scared then it's over. And when that happens…_

" _Just so you know, princess, while I will let you attempt to speak to the moblins, if you should fail I will not stop them from attacking Hyrule. In fact, I will have to lead the attack myself."_

She remembered Vaati's words and she bit her lip nervously. She'd tried to convince the sorcerer that having a disobedient army would be worse in the long run, but on this account he refused to budge. Again, she had a feeling that it had something to do with the acquaintance he'd mentioned, and he'd simply shrugged her off saying there was always time to demonstrate discipline later.

If she failed, no one would be able to help Hyrule. Link was undoubtedly away from the castle, busy with his own mission to defeat Vaati, and looking at the moblins gathered here now, casualties would be inevitable if there was an attack. And worse, Hyrule's leader was kidnapped and missing, leaving only Impa and the minister to guide the populace. While she had confidence they could lead, she had to be there. As the princess of Hyrule, they needed her.

One of the moblins stepped forward from the ring of about twenty or so monsters. For now, their spears were pointed skyward, indicating no hostility. Of course, she figured pointing a weapon at Vaati would have been a very serious deal and only in dire situations would they even consider it. At the same time, the fact that they _were_ surrounding them and holding weapons was still disconcerting. "Lord Vaati. You come. Were expecting."

While the Hylian was unsteady, Zelda knew the moment the goblin monster spoke that it should not be mistaken for stupidity like Vaati had claimed. Maybe they had a language barrier, and maybe their methods were brutish, but that didn't automatically make them stupid. The calculated look behind its fat drooped lids suggested intelligence equal to an average Hylian.

" _Then this should be quick,"_ Vaati's voice boomed just above her head, and the princess had to remember not to flinch in surprise. " _You know why I am here. You're going to die."_

If Vaati also hadn't warned her beforehand how he was going to greet the monsters, Zelda would have blown their plan right then and there by trying to stop him. However, she knew this was necessary, and so said nothing.

According to Vaati, this was a fairly normal way for monsters to greet each other. Anything less and they would arouse suspicion. Assuming truth, the princess couldn't really fathom how monsters managed to survive at all with such hostile societies.

However, almost on cue, the rest of the monsters except for the moblin that had spoken backed away, giving the three of them more privacy. The one that was left moved over to a medium sized rock and sat down, while Vaati and Zelda moved towards a log that was conveniently in front of it. Zelda sat down as well, while Vaati still in his wrath form hovered nearby. The moblin glanced at her, finally getting a chance to look at her closely for the first time, and it wrinkled its nose at her in disgust. Then, it disregarded her as unimportant for now. "We no die. We are strong. We combine forces with others," the moblin stated, repeating what it had said the day before. "You can hurt us. This is true. But we too many for you to kill."

" _Do you want to test this theory, fool?"_

"No. That is why you here. That is why you talk. You want Hyrule. You join us, we take together."

Next to her, Vaati's demon eye flashed a dangerous red, and Zelda could feel a static, tingly sensation run along her skin as energy crackled in the air. " _And why should I join you weak, worthless idiots?"_

"Not weak. You, you weak," the moblin replied bluntly, "you lost Hyrule too many times. Too many tries. Couldn't win. What makes you think you win now?"

Zelda knew she was supposed to keep her composure for the plan to work, but hearing this exchange was so… ridiculous almost that she had trouble not gasping in shock at what was being said. She remembered how the monsters back at the Palace feared Vaati, and based on that fact she couldn't imagine what would cause a monster accuse the sorcerer of weakness. That was an instant deathwish…

Unless…

_Unless it found out somehow that Vaati can't attack them._

She glanced briefly at Vaati, and he was wide eyed in utter shock. _He probably never had anyone say something like that to his face, huh…_ From that look on his face, there was a chance he would go completely berserk on them, and considering how she would be in the middle of it all, Zelda was reluctant to let that happen. Behind her back so the moblin couldn't see what she was doing, she reached over slowly and pinched him on one of his wings. She wasn't going to let him jeopardize her people with a temper tantrum now.

Vaati's eye snapped towards her angrily when he felt the warning pinch, and then growled inwardly when he saw her positively glaring at the grass between her feet. He understood what she was getting at, and calmly listened to the moblin. He was going to have a talk with her later about her attitude, however. Treating him like a child who couldn't control his own temper…

"We know," the moblin pressed, unaware of the silent exchange that had happened between Vaati and Zelda, "you can't attack us. Wizzrobes tell us you can't. You have deal to keep." The air became a few degrees cooler, then, and the frogs croaking from the swamp made for ominous background noise. "We strong. You can join us, or we take Hyrule alone."

Vaati's claws were clenched shut, and his eye was narrowed to thin slits. He looked ready to blow the place up into a black crater to erase everything that upset him, or at least _something_ to get rid of that moblin's confidence. Zelda was afraid he actually might go through with it, but in the end, he sighed irritably and dropped it.

She was kind of surprised, to be honest, and she became even more curious about this deal the moblin was talking about. Vaati had made some kind of deal, and now he couldn't attack disobedient monsters? Who was this person who could actually make the infamous Wind Mage agree to a deal?

Someone with a dark purple feather…

" _Of course the Wizzrobes would be involved in this… too troublesome for their own good…"_ she heard Vaati mutter under his breath, loud enough that only she could hear.

Suddenly, Zelda felt the gaze of one oversized floating eye staring at her.

Vaati chuckled in his devious, crooked way, and then turned his gaze back towards the moblin looking back at him with the confidence that only comes with the illusion of invincibility. " _Then perhaps I will begin to explain why your idea is a redundant, stupid idea,"_ he hissed. He abruptly reached around Zelda's waist with his claw, forcing her to stand up and take a few steps towards the other monster.

Zelda stiffened. This was it. The fate of her country rested on her actions for the next few minutes.

She needed to be a politician. She needed to be a snake.

She needed to be an actor, no matter how much she hated her role.

And Vaati was her director.


	8. Just an Act

" _Do you see this?"_ Vaati waved his huge claw towards the princess who was standing in the middle of them all like an auction item, " _Hyrule is already mine, so if you decide to attack Hyrule you are declaring war on me. Now tell me, is that your intention or did you have something different in mind?"_

According to the script Zelda and Vaati had discussed the day before, the princess's job was to look completely willing to give in to all of Vaati's demands and appear as though she had sold her loyalty to him. It wasn't a very pleasant role, and it made her bite her cheek in annoyance from the sting on her pride, but she had to keep reminding herself that this was just an act to save Hyrule from assault. To be honest, it had been her idea… and even though she kind of hated herself for it, she knew this was their best shot at convincing the moblins that she had lost to the sorcerer. Vaati, on the other hand, had loved this idea.

The princess tried not to scowl in front of the moblin while Vaati continued to talk next to her, showing her off like some kind of trophy. Instead, she kept a cool, condescending look to match Vaati's tone, as though she thought the monsters were all idiots. It wasn't a very nice look, and she didn't really like forcing her expression into something ugly like that, but again, her job in this meeting was to completely convince the monsters that she was under Vaati's spell.

This was just an act. She wasn't actually Vaati's property and Hyrule wasn't _his_.

_Repeat a lie enough, and eventually it becomes truth…_

Her mind jolted to attention when a tiny, nagging voice at the back of her head whispered a warning. Or was it even a warning, she wondered? It almost sounded as though Vaati had said it, tauntingly. And then Zelda remembered, she'd heard those words just yesterday when they'd been going over their strategy. It was when she'd told Vaati that Hyrule was still not his, regardless of how he considered the state of things, and that the monsters would need convincing to believe that it had fallen. He'd given her a sly grin, then, saying those words.

Now she wondered if he meant the lie would become truth to the monsters, or that the lie would become truth to her…

" _Of course she listens to what I say."_

Zelda could feel Vaati's pointed stare fixed on the back of her neck, and her mind brought her back to attention on what was going on around her. She turned her head slowly, and then realized she'd made some blunder while she had been lost in her thoughts, since the sorcerer was sending her a look that clearly stated "What-are-you-doing? Do-your-job!"

"This one has spirit. Not defeated. How we know she yours? What if Hyrule still not yours?" The moblin asked, and Zelda understood that she wasn't doing a great job acting right now. But being defeated wasn't really part of her nature: how was she even supposed to act?

Vaati decided to help her out. A devious glint appeared in his eye and he hovered closer. There was a puff of smoke, and instead of the giant monster eye Vaati was once again the obnoxious pale-skinned Hylian. The princess shot a brief, questioning glance towards the sorcerer: her understanding was that he'd been taking the demon form in order to maintain a powerful impression on the monsters. What was he planning? Suddenly, Zelda felt the sorcerer's fingers curl around her shoulders as she was forcefully pushed towards his chest, and she realized her face was uncomfortably close to his (rather handsome, she grudgingly admitted) face. "I can make her do anything, even things she wouldn't want to do, _without hesitation_ ," he emphasized the last words, his breath tickling her ear, with the undertone of a critical order. A sinking feeling grew in Zelda's stomach when she realized what he was up to.

 _Just an act, just an act, just an act,_ the princess repeated to herself over and over. Only her stony expression hid her growing internal panic. Zelda's shoulders stiffened when Vaati turned her around to face him.

"Kiss your husband, princess."

She froze, and all she could see was that toothy grin. _Just… an act._ Her mind pulled a blank and for a moment she lost control over her calm expression; she was glad she had her back to the moblin.

She'd never kissed anyone… and her first was going to this… this bastard? Sick to her stomach, she could taste the bile in her mouth. She wanted to cry. This was completely unnecessary and Vaati was simply taking advantage of the situation. And the worst part was that she couldn't even refuse. To refuse a kiss, in exchange for her country's safety? She could never look anyone in the eye again. Vaati must have sensed her stricken state because the fingers holding her shoulders gave her a small warning squeeze.

 _Without hesititation_.

Zelda bit her lip, thinking frantically. Was there anything she could do to turn the situation around to her favor somehow? What could she do? What could she say?

And then in her moment of panic, she came to the most ridiculous answer… so crazy and perhaps even stupid that she ended up laughing from the idiocy of it all.

Her gaze instantly hardened like an actress turning into a new character, and her smirk was so wicked that even Vaati blinked in barely concealed surprise.

If she was going to have to play Vaati's queen, then so be it. She was going to be his terrifying queen whether he liked it or not. The kiss, his idea? Oh no. No, no, no that was actually _her_ idea.

"Of course," she replied smoothly, improvising and basing her tone to the sly sorcerer's. Forget the innocent princess; today she was more evil than Vaati himself. She shut down her thoughts that were screaming at her to stop, pleading her not to turn into the same vile creature like him. She shut down her thoughts because she was desperate, and she focused her mind on one idea only:

How she just couldn't get enough of that flickering look of uncertainty that had suddenly appeared on the wind mage's face.

_Just an act._

She snaked her arms behind Vaati's neck, and pushed his lips towards hers, smirking inwardly when she felt him push back involuntarily, unexpectedly finding himself in a swapped situation where she was in control and he was not. He relaxed after a few seconds, and he was about to kiss back but she broke away quickly with a smile on her face before he could have any satisfaction. Vaati stared at her, dumbfounded, and before he could say anything she gave a quick glance over her shoulder, silently telling him to deal with the moblin who seemed completely oblivious to what had just happened.

All the monster had seen was a simple kiss like Vaati had promised.

What the monster had not seen was the silent feud that had occurred right in front of his eyes.

And now it was Vaati's turn to keep his composure together. The sorcerer's mind had pulled a complete blank, the condescending and arrogant speech he'd prepared wiped clean from his head. The princess had done exactly as he'd ordered, and at the same time, she hadn't. He realized his mouth was partly open, ready to say something, but after a few seconds he resorted to a cold glare and a terrifying sneer, waiting for the moblin to say something first.

"Impressive," the monster grunted in approval. Its squinty gaze of skepticism was suddenly replaced by one of respect. "We have Hyrule. No need to attack what ours."

"You mean _I_ have Hyrule," Vaati corrected with a snarl.

"We serve you. Stand corrected."

Vaati shook his head clear of his thoughts about what had happened with Zelda, and focused on what he had come here to do. He needed these monsters to obey him if he wanted to deal with that other problem that had been thrown at his face recently… the one involving that stupid oversized purple cucco… "Swear it," he demanded.

"We swear allegiance."

"Prove it. Keep an eye on those wizzrobes. I'll be paying them a visit next." With that, he turned his back, his cape whirling around him and the fabric nearly slapping the princess in the face. He was still more than a little upset by what had just happened, and he wasn't eager to spend any more time here. Without another word and without giving anyone any warning that he was leaving, he transformed back into his demon form and unceremoniously whisked Zelda away into the sky.

In all regards the brief exchange with the moblins had gone unexpectedly in their favor with surprising ease. Zelda's idea to give the monsters a show demonstrating Vaati's superiority over Hyrule had been perfect. She'd been right that they would be able to get the moblins to listen to them with a few carefully planned words, instead of resorting to blowing them up (which hadn't been an option this time), or admitting that they would have to let the moblins do what they please with the castle.

It couldn't have gone any better, in fact. The discussion hadn't even lasted an hour, and he was flying back to his Palace with the sworn oath of the moblins and his Hyrule untouched by clumsy, rash monster claws.

But was he happy?

No, not at all.

And it all had to do with a problem named Zelda.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Although the two were completely silent during the whole flight back to the Palace of Winds, Vaati immediately rounded on the princess the moment he dropped her in front of her quarters. A wild gust whirled around him as he transformed back to his Hylian self and he slammed his hands against the wall on either side of the princess's face, pinning her in place.

Zelda stared him down coolly.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"What was what?"

"You know _exactly_ what I mean."

Oh she did. She knew exactly why he was upset and exactly what he meant. "It was your idea."

"No it wa-…" he stopped himself short. The kiss was his idea. In fact, he'd ordered her to do it. But what made him really angry, and what they both knew full well, was that it hadn't gone how he'd imagined it would go. She wasn't supposed to turn into that… thing. What kind of princess does that?

He'd kissed the princess, forced her to it, made her _obey_. In most scenarios, he would have been gloating about it. It should have been sexy. But what had happened back there, when she'd pulled him in to her face and he could feel her hot breath on his lips just before they touched, almost made him feel like he'd been the one who had been molested.

And that… that made him so disgusted with himself he didn't want anything to do with her today.

A thought crossed his mind to force her to bed, to hurt her right now, to teach her a lesson, but something stopped him short. Was he… actually afraid? Never in all his experiences so far with the fairer sex did he ever have someone turn his advances against him and make him the victim instead. He was the predator, they were the prey. He had the power, they were there to be dominated. Whenever he made a move this hierarchy was always left unquestioned. But today, Zelda had completely changed the rules and made it a possibility that she could force the roles to switch.

With an incomprehensible gibberish of snarls, Vaati slammed a fist into the wall next to Zelda's face one more time before he stormed off, quite literally with a powerful gale thrashing around him in pure rage, eventually leaving the princess alone, standing against the wall where he'd left her.

The princess stood there for some time, looking out stonily at the clouds rolling across the sky. It was a clear day today; it always was in the Palace that floated high above the clouds. A Stalfos strolled by, briefly giving the princess a curious glance as she was just standing there like a statue, before it continued on its way.

Eventually, Zelda let out a huge sigh like she'd been holding her breath. She walked back into her quarters and slowly made her way to the washroom like a ghost.

The princess stood in front of the mirror, looking at the cool, callous woman that peered back at her. She tried to crack a smile, but instead it turned into a bitter one. No matter how hard she tried, the person reflected back at her could not give that bright, bubbly smile that the castle hands back home adored.

Her fingers reached out to the other girl's lips. Deep blue eyes looked back as her fingers trailed over where she'd kissed the sorcerer.

She looked vile.

_Just an act…_

Finally losing her composure, the princess collapsed onto the floor, her arms hanging over the sink and her cheek pressed against the cold marble. For the first time since captivity, Princess Zelda cried.


	9. Equals

Vaati wasn't usually bothered by people crying because of him. In fact, he usually found crying to be annoying, and his interactions with crying people were limited to shutting them up. Permanently. Like turning them into teary-eyed statues or something.

Therefore, he wasn't really sure what compelled him to keep spying on the princess who was lying face first on her bed, crying into her pillow. He was upset by what had happened at the moblin camp himself, and he didn't want anything to do with the strawberry blond girl currently sprawled on her bed in a right mess. Even so, he kept turning his attention back to the scene reported by his sentry eye to see if Zelda was still crying. He absentmindedly walked around the castle, scared off some unlucky Bubbles who had been minding their own business, and ran his fingers across the keys of the piano he couldn't play. Nothing could get his mind off of the princess who was currently crying alone in her room.

He slammed a fist onto a bunch of keys, making the piano yowl with discordant notes. Why did he even get the thing, anyway? He didn't even know how to play the damn thing, and all it was doing was taking up space.

 _Stupid_.

With a frown stuck on his face, Vaati paced aimlessly around the castle until he was back in his own room in one of the taller towers of the Palace. He plopped himself onto his favorite couch, a luxurious velvet one with pillows as soft as clouds, and looked down at the white roofs of the other Palace structures.

It was no good. Even his favorite view from the Palace couldn't keep his mind off of the princess in tears. It bothered him because her actions didn't make sense; why was she crying now of all times? Was it because of the kiss?

It was about the kiss, wasn't it.

But she'd actually had the upper hand in that one and they both knew it, so she shouldn't have anything to cry about! Winners don't cry: it was a metaphorical slap to the face that she was currently acting like he'd had the upper hand in that exchange.

Actually he didn't really want to think about that either.

He hated it when things didn't make sense, and this whole crying thing wasn't making much sense to him. If he'd meant for her to cry, and she was crying, then that made perfect sense and he'd be feeling pretty pleased with himself for being able to manipulate the princess of one of the most influential countries in the region like that. But this? The only way he could describe it was that he was frustrated and annoyed.

The idea to take the princess of Hyrule as a trophy wife had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, and initially he thought it would be more entertaining to let the fiery, strong-willed girl to remain alive with minimal freedom in the Palace. She hadn't failed to disappoint him, always managing to surprise him with some of her bold decisions and proving to be a respectable adversary given her limited resources.

At the same time, he wondered if he'd taken on more than he'd bargained for; he was beginning to have doubts about how much control he had over Zelda and…

_But wasn't that the whole point in the beginning, because you were curious about her unpredictability?_

Well… yes, predictable would have been boring, certainly.

He really hadn't thought through this very well. Or at all, for that matter, except for the part about kidnapping her to be his wife in name only. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe at the time he hadn't put any thought into it either.

 _I'm letting this bother me more than it should_ , Vaati thought as he tried to let his mind wander instead at the stunning view of the sky through the high arched windows.

It was no use. The image of Zelda crying alone in her room refused to leave his head, denying him peace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a full day after the incident with the moblins when Vaati showed up at Zelda's door once again. For a whole day the sorcerer had left the princess completely alone, and for a whole day Zelda had spent her time like a palace ghost, gaunt and unenergetic. Her time as a captive had taken its toll on her, and even though she had been strong-willed and ready to fight back, she'd lost a lot of her momentum after what had happened the day before. Vaati as well had an expression on his face that indicated he was fed up with the state of things, from the way he stood by her door, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest but missing that conniving sneer he always wore whenever he was still playing his game.

The game wasn't fun anymore.

After a few seconds of silence, with the princess sitting quietly at the edge of her bed and Vaati standing around waiting, the sorcerer finally gave a tired sigh. "It's morning," he stated flatly.

Zelda, dressed in her old pink royalty dress, didn't even turn her head as she stared at the mirror in front of her. Her head was slightly tilted, and her eyes were kind of dim as she looked at her reflection in somber disappointment.

"It's breakfast," Vaati tried again, stubbornly, with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

Still, Zelda refused to acknowledge him, still seemingly bothered by her reflection.

"… Are you hungry?"

The voice was somewhat hesitant, but strained as though its owner was trying his best not to sound too demanding. It finally piqued Zelda's curiosity a little, as it was a tone she would never have associated with the arrogant sorcerer. She turned her head slightly, and noticed Vaati looking at her with an expression comparable to a child trying not to throw a temper tantrum at a kitten that refused to play with him. It was a look that was so completely unfitting to his character that Zelda might have laughed if she wasn't feeling so drained from this whole situation. From her understanding of the wind mage, Vaati was the type of person who resorted to force or intimidation to bend things his way; the fact that he was attempting to at least wait for her reaction to go to breakfast was something of a curiosity. The fact that he was handling this with the awkwardness of a boy who just hit puberty was even more so.

"No," she replied leadenly, and went back to looking at her reflection. It was the truth; she couldn't find her appetite, especially not in front of him since he reminded her too much of what had happened a day before. Her face… it bothered her. Ever since she'd pulled that stunt at the moblin camp her expression had become… cold? She herself wasn't sure how to describe her emotions, but she knew she was afraid… not of Vaati, no, but herself. What she was capable of. The kind of person she had the capacity to be if she was cornered enough.

At first she'd taken pride in the fact that she wasn't going to let Vaati get the best of her. She'd been so focused on winning against him in everything imaginable that she'd lost sight of what she was becoming to reach her goal. The kiss had finally brought her back to the reality of it all, when she'd been left with her all too gleeful thoughts when the infamous sorcerer himself had recoiled at her touch. She'd won, yes, but she'd been no better than the wind mage. She couldn't believe how easy it had been to become so lost in the… in the _joy_ of making someone uncomfortable. To beat them. To eventually destroy them from within.

And it was that crooked smile that reflected back at her from the mirror, the one that whispered to her that he _deserved it_ , that scared her more than anything.

Sooner or later, that crooked smile was going to tell her to embrace the darkness: to use the enemy's own strengths against them. That was the route she was following, and it was a route she could not afford to lose herself in. Even if she escaped Vaati, Hyrule would still be doomed under her rule.

It scared her. It scared her because it had been so easy to become exactly like Vaati with a little bit of pressure. There was a person in her she never would have imagined she was capable of being, until now.

She felt a few droplets of tears collect along the corner of her eyes, and she immediately stiffened to attention. She did not want the sorcerer to see her in tears, where he could jeer at her. Wiping her face quickly with the back of her sleeve, she shot a defensive look to where the sorcerer stood waiting.

Or rather, where he had once been waiting.

Vaati had left the room, and he was nowhere in sight. She hadn't noticed when he'd left, and it was a little weird that the talkative mage had left unannounced. She didn't dwell on it too long, however, and she lay back on her bed. "All the better that he's gone," she said aloud to herself. The little sentry eye was still there, however, and it bobbed up and down in its usual spot near the ceiling above the bed.

The princess was left unbothered for about another half hour, which she used to briefly step outside for a walk around the balconies. The view of the endless sky was still fantastic, and it was one of the few things in the Palace that could give her a moment of peace. When she came back to her quarters feeling unmotivated and ready to nap, she found a small silver tray on top of the coffee table next to the couch. On it was an unfortunately cold stack of pancakes, sliced apples, and a glass of milk that was now lukewarm from sitting out for a little too long.

She stared at the lonely tray of breakfast food for a while with a puzzled expression. It must have been Vaati who had left it there, or if it hadn't, it was one of his servants working on his orders. Her stomach growled grudgingly.

It was a thoughtful gesture, especially since she actually _was_ a little hungry now, but why someone selfish like him would go out of his way to do something for her was a mystery. Unless…

"Did he poison it?" she wondered aloud, directing the question to the sentry that was following her every move.

A few seconds went by. Then, the sentry flew around in a panicked circle above her and flew under the bed, cowering in fear. A few seconds more, and Vaati was back in front of her, teleporting to her room in a gust of wind that caused the wall hangings and furniture to rattle. He stomped over to the untouched food, stabbed a fork through a pancake and bit it. "You think I would poison my own wife?" he snarled, dropping the fork and the pancake back onto the plate with a clang.

"What has you so flustered?" Zelda asked softly, but with a somewhat accusatory tone, completely unperturbed by the sorcerer's sudden reappearance. "You're not exactly known for your hospitality, so finding something like this all of a sudden," she waved a hand towards the tray of food, "is wearisome."

The sorcerer did a double take, almost stepping on his own cape when he took a step backwards. "You think I'm… I wasn't trying to be… I'm not…" He stumbled over his words, and then he realized his blunder as he corrected himself with a harsh snap, "Just eat your goddess damned food, princess. And then you're accompanying me for an hour to discuss things." He stormed back out, but not before announcing that he was going to be back soon to fetch her again.

Princess Zelda blinked, and looked at the empty space where the wind mage had been. He was acting oddly ever since she'd turned the tables against him with that kiss. He'd lost his confidence, much like she had, in a sense, and now he was almost tiptoeing around her like she was a time bomb. Granted it was all very subtle, from the way he waited for her response about breakfast and not forcing her to join him, actually asking for her opinion about breakfast, leaving her alone when she said she wasn't hungry, and leaving food for her anyway when she had been out of her room.

Did he actually… feel _bad_ about what had happened yesterday?

Probably not.

One thing was for certain, though, and it was that the rules had changed. He was no longer just her captor, and she was no longer just his captive. She could stand above him, much like he could stand above her.

She could be… exactly like him.

Her forehead crinkled in the center as her brows knitted together gravely when she remembered what she'd looked like in the mirror these past few days. It wasn't a pleasant memory.

She sighed heavily, and poked away at the food that Vaati had left in the most awkward manner possible. He really was a disaster this morning. It might have been funny if she wasn't so tired of everything. Tired of being a captive. Tired of dealing with Vaati.

Tired of dealing with herself.


	10. He Cheers Me Up

Sure enough, Vaati returned just as he had announced to drag Zelda along on one of their ritual walks. There wasn't really a need to go on these walks anymore, now that the monsters in the Palace were clearly aware of what would happen if they attacked the princess. From what Zelda could tell, this was just an excuse for Vaati to talk to her about something.

The princess followed along anyway, without much objection, even though she wasn't in a mood to accompany her kidnapper. She was tired and emotionally drained from the realization that she could easily stoop to Vaati's level, and at the moment, she didn't have the energy to fight back or take part in their usual mental games. See? The fact that she even used to consider their jabs at each other as a mental _game_ – game, as in something fun – was just… just so wrong. She'd been so caught up in thinking of everything in terms of winning and losing that she'd begun to enter this 'ends justify the means' kind of thinking. And that realization made her apathetic to everything at the moment.

They walked in an uncomfortable silence for some time, the princess's hand obligatorily propped on Vaati's arm as he escorted her around the Palace. It was so forced and unnatural that even the sorcerer, who was usually unbothered by such things, shifted his arm this way and that with a frown that indicated that he was aware how stupid this charade was. But it was also a frown that stubbornly insisted that the charade must continue, because it would be even more stupid if he admitted to such a thing at this point.

"You cry too much," Vaati suddenly blurted out.

"Excuse me?"

"It didn't even make sense why you were crying. It's annoying."

Zelda stopped walking, and she ignored the slight tug on her hand when Vaati kept moving forward. Her thoughts, which had previously been slowly dragging itself around her head like a bunch of lethargic ReDeads, jolted to attention. Her pale cheeks were beginning to flush crimson, color returning for the first time since her somber spell.

It wasn't exactly what you would describe as lively, however. "Lively" sounded much too pleasant for what she looked like right now.

" _Excuse me?"_ Zelda repeated angrily. "It didn't even make sense? _It didn't even make sense?_ You don't think that given my situation as your unwilling captive, I'm not allowed to have a breakdown every now and then?"

"It was just a kiss." They were now standing in the middle of the walkway now, facing each other confrontationally. The clouds rolled by, oblivious to the pressure accumulating around the two figures like a thunderstorm just waiting to happen. The princess's hands were clenched into small fists, while Vaati had his arms crossed with a face that also said "what's the big deal?"

"You wouldn't get it!"

"Try me."

"Sexual harassment is a big deal!"

"… You're right. I don't get it," the sorcerer snorted. With a tired shrug, Vaati rolled his eyes. "You call that harassment?"

Anger or happiness is oftentimes a fantastic motivator for unmotivated people. In this case, Zelda's growing anger was enough to throw her out of her previously gloomy mood. Her shoulders were shaking, now, from trying to control her fury. "You took advantage of the situation and forced me to… to… to kiss you without my consent. How is that _not_ harassment?"

"You obviously liked it."

_SLAP._

Everything around the palace was infinitely quieter after the ringing slap that echoed through the wind. Whatever monsters that had been nearby hurriedly fled from the area, until the only people left were the princess and the wind mage. It had been a fantastic slap, right across the face and with a connection so well that there was bound to be a nice red hand print along the side of Vaati's cheeks.

Zelda rubbed her right hand, stinging slightly from where it had made contact with the sorcerer's face. Then, she realized what she had done and her eyes widened somewhat fearfully. It had all been reactionary, and she hadn't really meant to slap him that hard…

Alright, that was a lie. She really had meant to slap the asshole so hard he'd have a permanent mark on his oh so precious face.

But now what? If he became really angry then he could really hurt her. In a match of power alone, he could overpower her without contest. He hadn't physically hurt her yet, but it was difficult to forget the warning he'd made before about how she would be unwise to test his patience…

His head, which had been turned to the side from the force of the slap, slowly turned back to face her. The air around him was calm, almost too calm, just like the unnaturally still wind before a horrific hurricane. His blood red eyes narrowed behind his bangs and his voice came out in a low hiss. " _You-"_

"I did like it," Zelda snapped, interrupting him.

Vaati's terrifying glare immediately turned into wide-eyed surprise. _What?_

The princess gauged his reaction. Her words had caught his attention, and his arms, previously crossed, had dropped absentmindedly to his sides. She continued, slowly, "I liked that look on your face when I put my face closer to yours. You backed away, but I wouldn't let you. I liked how uncomfortable I made you feel in those few seconds I had when I turned the tables on you. I liked how I had the power, in that instant, to make you feel like the most powerless thing alive. The fact that I liked it," Zelda sneered, and began to walk over to the garden area they had been making their way towards before this whole conversation had started. Her shoulders brushed past the dumbfounded sorcerer's as she walked past, "is disgusting. Not that you would understand, anyway."

Vaati stared, dumbfounded. No one had ever dared to speak to him that way. At least, not since he became one of the most feared sorcerers to ever live…

He rubbed the side of his face where her palm had connected with his face. It stung.

"Oh, but the kiss itself?" Zelda spoke over her shoulder, and then went over to sit on one of the stone blocks by the edge of the garden, pointedly sitting with her back towards him. "It was horrible."

The princess sounded so assured of herself that he was completely in the wrong, that for a few minutes Vaati was almost tricked into feeling guilty about what he'd done. Almost. Because the guilt was quickly replaced by a simmering anger triggered by the fact that she had dared speak back to him in such a condescending manner, and that she had gone so far as to strike him. He walked over to where she was sitting and towered over her, forcing her to look at him.

Zelda glared back, coolly, her fiery personally returning after her burst of anger. Her hands were placed on her lap properly, the very image of a powerful noble lady. The fact that Vaati cast a shadow over her from where he leaned down at her sitting figure meant nothing.

"Are you aware that I've been unnecessarily hospitable to you, but I'm becoming more and more inclined to treat you much worse?" Vaati snarled.

Zelda's eyes narrowed. "Oh shut up," she snapped, taking Vaati by surprise once again with her bold attitude, "you don't even know why I'm really mad now, do you?"

The corner of Vaati's visible eye twitched and he made a sudden movement. She gasped when she was abruptly slammed down backwards on the stone she had been sitting on, and pinned down threateningly by a tense hand around her neck.

She looked up and saw the sorcerer staring down at her with frigid apathy. She felt his weight pressing down against her ribs where his knee was digging in. It would have frightened even the most tempered souls, but the princess wasn't about to let him drown out her voice.

"You don't get it, that's why," She seethed between her teeth, ignoring the discomfort along her neck where the sorcerer held her, "I've heard enough from you to see that you really don't get it. You don't understand why the things you're doing are actually bad, do you? You don't understand why the things you're doing are upsetting to _me._ You have no empathy, and because of that, you're hopeless."

Vaati, who had moments before looked almost ready to strangle the princess to shut her up, cracked a tiny grin. Amused, he gave a sinister chuckle that drowned out the soft sound of the leaves rustling in the wind around them. "You know, dear, I'm not sure why I should care about whether or not I've upset you. Perhaps you can get that assumption out of your head and we'll both understand each other a lot better, hmm?"

"If that's the case, then you have absolutely no right to tell me when I can or cannot cry. And you can stop pretending to be thoughtful with your fake gestures of kindness."

Vaati's tiny grin flipped back down into a tiny frown. Fake gestures of kindness? It took him a moment to figure out what she was referring to, and when he did, his frown deepened. He was starting to have doubts about his decision to leave breakfast for the hungry princess. Why had he done that? Now she thought he'd been making a very bad attempt at being nice. He'd convinced himself that he didn't want the princess moping about in her depressive episode because it was… so _annoying_ , and that she'd feel better after she'd eaten something. But now she was back to her old self, and a little more.

Stupid pancakes.

"You didn't even finish those," Vaati replied flatly, pretending not to be miffed by her previous comment. "Maybe you'll be less rash and unreasonable after you've had a real meal. I did order you to eat."

"Sometimes, Vaati, people do things you don't like or understand," Zelda gave a curt smile, coughing lightly in between since the sorcerer's hand was still on her neck and his knee still in her ribs. She wasn't too scared now, however, despite her situation. The sorcerer was actually listening, and she could tell her words were getting to him by the way he was becoming less sure of his words. "People won't listen to you simply because you want them to listen to you. That may work with your monsters, but not for us." A mean spirited laugh escaped her lips, "Why, do you value yourself so low that you don't think you're capable of winning me over without having to kidnap me?"

Vaati's tiny frown turned into a much more intimidating growl. He wanted to tell her she was wrong, but her logic made so much sense that he would have looked silly trying to deny it. She really knew how to get on his nerves. "You're awfully talkative all of a sudden, princess."

"Maybe I was angry."

Vaati stared at her pointedly for another minute, unsure of what else to say. The fingers around Zelda's neck were starting to go numb from maintaining the same tense position for so long, and his knee was beginning to feel uncomfortable from being propped against her ribs. Of course the princess was probably more uncomfortable right now; after all, she was the one who was being held down in a choke hold with a knee pinned against her side. Still, she was looking back at him again with her bright blue eyes, full of life and defiance.

_Well, at least she's finally back to her old self. Din._

He decided he liked her better that way, as troublesome and ire provoking as she was when she was full of energy. It was much better than when she was sad, crying, and lying on her bed all day long being depressed. Crying, depressed Zelda also made him annoyed, but it was a much worse kind of annoyed because he couldn't even get a reaction out of her. Angry Zelda was annoying, but at least her reactions were interesting.

Not that, you know, he cared about how she was feeling or anything…

The fingers around her neck loosened, and he stood up, letting the princess sit up from where she had been pinned down moments before. He brushed himself off and quietly took a seat next to her. He pretended not to notice how the princess rubbed the faint red lines along her neck, coughing a few times to clear her throat. "I will give you an offer, then. Do with it what you like," he mused. A small smile played on his lips when he saw Zelda glance up at him in curious surprise. It was evident that she hadn't expected the sorcerer to give her a choice in anything. "I have a visit I must make to the wizzrobes tomorrow afternoon. I will let you join me, if you wish."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Zelda frowned unhappily and averted her gaze. She bit her bottom lip. "If it's anything like what happened the last time…" she trailed off, thinking aloud to herself.

"Then for all intents and purposes, it will be a success," Vaati finished simply. "Even though I was unhappy at the time, what you did was…" he paused, and he looked out into the distance thoughtfully. Despite the fact that he could usually throw compliments left and right as casually as a swindling salesman, he found himself having trouble praising the princess this time. He wasn't really sure why. "It was… good," he ended lamely.

Zelda didn't seem to catch his pause, as she was too preoccupied with her nerves. She still wasn't completely over what had happened at the moblin camp, and to repeat something like that again so soon… "Mmhmm."

"Just know I'm not forcing you to go, princess," Vaati shrugged nonchalantly, recovering from his slight mental hiccup and reviving his superior air.

The princess looked at the sorcerer thoughtfully. While not perfect, she supposed it _was_ big step that he wasn't ordering her to do something this time. Maybe her outburst had actually been helpful?

"Of course, if you don't go and I don't succeed in 'negotiating' with the wizzrobes, then I'm afraid I won't be stopping them from doing whatever they want with Hyrule. 'Negotiation' isn't something I'm very fond of, unlike how it is for you."

Zelda's expression immediately hardened, and she tapped her finger along the stone bench irritably. "I see how I have a lot of choice in this matter," she said bitterly.

A sly grin appeared on the sorcerer's face, and he reached over and patted her hand in a reassuring manner. "Now, now, I'll support your decision one hundred percent. What kind of husband would I be if I didn't support my own wife?"

Zelda sighed, and rested her chin on her free hand. She was tired again, but a different kind of tired than what she'd been feeling earlier. Now it was an exasperated kind of tired, instead of a morose one. She glanced over at the sorcerer, a faint handprint still etched along the side of his face where she had slapped him. "What kind of husband indeed."


	11. My Husband Has a Gambling Problem

The next day played out almost exactly the same way as it had when they had gone to the moblin camp, except for the fact that instead of getting ready to leave before dawn, they left to get ready before sunset. She knew absolutely nothing about the plan, except that Vaati maintained that it was absolutely crucial for her to look and act the part of a confident, beautiful princess fitting of Hyrule. She needed to represent Hyrule not in its defeat, but at its best. And she also needed to be the glory of Hyrule that had fallen to the hands of Vaati.

So as far as she could tell, he planned to pull the same stunt they had done with the moblins. For the first half of the day, Vaati had left her alone, saying he needed to make preparations and briefly dropping by once or twice to make sure she was feeling okay about this. It could have been interpreted as a nice gesture, Zelda supposed, except she couldn't shake off the cynical thought that his success was also dependent on whether or not she was feeling fine. Still, a small part of her reluctantly agreed that maybe, just maybe, something had gone through to him during yesterday's argument; after all, he could have forced her to go along with his plan whether she liked it or not. No point asking her opinion about it if a part of him hadn't finally realized that maybe having her go willingly was _also an option, wow can you believe that._

She got dressed in the new wear that Vaati had left her earlier during one of his checkup visits. Her old princess wear was becoming a little worn and dirty from all of the unprincess-like action it had seen, mostly from being unceremoniously snatched this way and that by an oversized claw belonging to a certain belligerent sorcerer, and it was no longer appropriate for her to wear. Her new dress was very similar to her old dress, matching in design except for its color and small details. Instead of the Hylian crest on the embroidered banner in front of her dress, the symbol of the demon eye replaced it below the Triforce. The gold pieces on her dress were also embossed with the eye, Vaati's mark, along the corners. Instead of the pink theme of her old attire, it now matched Vaati's purple. She still hated purple. The princess wrinkled her nose as she tightened her corset.

Zelda pulled over her white gloves, looking at her reflection in the mirror as the sentry eye buzzed around her head. She had to admit that she did look good in purple, as much as she hated the color. It wasn't exactly the imposing, regal hue that the sorcerer was fond of, but more of a light lavender that inspired a soothing innocence. She smirked. The color and design said a lot about what he thought of her. What he wanted her to be. He wanted her to be that innocent, bright princess of Hyrule who had come completely under his possession.

She crossed her arms. Sure, she looked pretty cute in her new light purple dress. It impressed a certain gentleness and soft-spoken demeanor that wasn't as apparent with her old, bright pink theme. She couldn't help but blush at how adorable she looked with her big lacy lavender bow that had replaced her old one, and she might have even liked it a little. At the same time, it was almost like being prepared like some kind of merchandise for everyone's viewing pleasure, and that made her feel a little slimy. Tapping her chin, she opened up her drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors, and proceeded to shred up her bow to give her outfit an edgier feel.

She gave a satisfied smile back at her reflection. _Much better._

She walked out of her room, past the Armos statues, full of confidence and trying her best to shake away the last bit of nervousness. She turned to Vaati, who stood leaning quietly against the wall. If he'd wanted to, he could have watched her undress since her room had no door that could close shut, but instead he'd politely waited out of sight. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him. It made her sick to think she might be forced to do things she wasn't comfortable with today, but…

Maybe it was a desperate hope, stemming from her fear of having to go through with something that made her feel so terrible. But… she wanted to trust him. That maybe she wasn't just imagining the fact that there was something about the sorcerer today that suggested he'd become a little more mellow. "Ready," she declared after a deep breath.

Vaati was staring at her hair. "What did you do that for?" he frowned as he pushed off the wall, waving a hand at her jagged bow. "You're supposed to look clean, not like a monster jumped you this morning," he added disapprovingly.

"I am the spirit of Hyrule and I," Zelda crossed her arms defiantly, "am fierce."

The sorcerer blinked. Instead of berating her or getting angry that she'd ruined the carefully planned look he'd gotten for her, he couldn't help but chuckle. His shoulders relaxed; he wasn't even aware they had been tense before. He would never admit it, but an outsider would have said that he might have been relieved to see that the princess still had that fire. And he'd never admit this either, but now that he knew what she could be like with the fire snuffed out, he didn't want to see her like that again. Not because he cared about her or anything, but because it was awfully boring and annoying to see her like that… she'd been no better than a ReDead, and there were more than enough of those to go around… (and when he became supreme ruler then there would be even more).

Besides, what good is a toy if it's broken? He'd learned his lesson.

Even though she did get under his skin more times than he could care to count, and even though she never did anything he wanted her to, her silly antics didn't fail to amuse him sometimes. "True."

Zelda looked almost surprised that Vaati was laughing, and not in his usual snide way, but her look of surprise quickly turned into a frown of suspicion. Vaati noticed, and he stopped mid-chuckle to return his normal devilish sneer. "Yes, love?"

Zelda grimaced. "You're awfully cheerful today." Oh yes. His douchebaggery meter was no doubt back at one hundred percent, just like the day they'd first met when he'd only had trivial things to worry about. Either she wasn't working hard enough to make his life as annoying as possible, or he was confident in his grand schemes. In any case, seeing him like this was maybe a little too irritating.

Vaati's grin widened, and he stepped closer, his hands sliding behind her waist. "I have everything I want, here in my arms," he purred, purposely sliding his lips close to her ear so he could watch her freeze up in surprise. He placed his other hand on her cheek, turning her face slowly towards his. "And after today, I would be the one to save your precious Hyrule and be one step closer to being the most powerful voice in the region."

The princess was not amused, and her hands were balled into fists, ready to give him another slap across his other cheek if he decided to do anything extremely not funny. "Why, are you saying you're not the most powerful yet?" she asked levelly, while slowly putting a hand on his shoulder as a warning that he was standing too close.

Vaati sneered, and took his left hand that had been on Zelda's cheek to pull the princess's hand on his shoulder around his neck in a rather intimate position. From the way his shoulders shook, he seemed like he was cracking up inside when he could see Zelda mentally kicking herself, although his expression was one of fake serenity. "Oh I am. I just won't be satisfied until everyone knows that I am."

His lips were close. A little too close. She expected any second now he would close in and try to steal a kiss like he'd done so many times before. Her fists were ready, though, her reaction as sharp as a cat's. If he so much as decided to go for it she was going to punch him.

She opened her fingers so that they weren't fists any more. On second thought, maybe outright punching him wasn't exactly the best idea if she didn't want him to completely blow up in murderous rage. It was a miracle she'd gotten away with slapping him earlier.

However, Vaati surprised her by not doing anything at all. Instead, he gave a rather mischievous snicker, enjoying her startled expression and pulled away. "Well, come on then," he grinned, leaving Zelda blinking in surprise at the surprisingly boyish youth in front of her. Then, with a puff of smoke, Vaati's Hylian form was replaced by his demon eye form, and he gently picked her up off the ground with his claws.

XXXXXXXXX

It wasn't a very long flight to the place they were going to meet with the curious magical monsters known as wizzrobes. Vaati flew towards the woods that weren't too far from one of the outer villages in Hyrule fields, and eventually landed in front of a mansion in the forest. It was actually alarmingly close from the Hylian villages, and Zelda wondered why no one ever mentioned anything about a monster hideout so close to civilization.

 _I wonder if the wizzrobes have anything to do with the shady rumors about suspicious traveling magicians around Hyrule…_ Zelda thought as she hopped down onto the dirt. Impa had once told her about some trouble regarding missing persons who had vanished after trying to find forbidden magic. Most of the cases had come from the outer villages, and although she had disregarded the stories as the fantastic stories of rural areas, she wasn't so sure if all of them were mere 'stories' now.

Unlike the time with the moblins, no one came out of the mansion to greet them, and Vaati immediately transformed back to his Hylian self. Zelda glanced at him curiously as he held out his arm for her and walked towards the mansion. Obviously the wizzrobes were going to be much different than the moblins. This made her a little nervous, since she didn't know what to expect. And worse, they were going to walk into the monsters' den, straight into their territory.

Instinctively, she stuck close to Vaati, the only familiar thing in the vicinity. The sorcerer arched his eyebrows momentarily, startled that she wasn't pulling away for once, and then continued to walk towards the mansion with a faint smile on his lips.

As soon as they reached the tall wooden doors, it swung open with a whoosh, causing Zelda to jump in surprise at the sudden movement. She heard a chorus of snickers from within, no doubt laughing at her reaction, and she frowned indignantly. Meanwhile, Vaati seemed familiar with the antics and proceeded forward with a small tug on Zelda's arm. Under the dim light of the candles and the dusty chandelier that hung from the ceiling, she could make out dozens of robed creatures peering at them from all the corners of the room. Eventually, six of them came to greet them, and she saw that there wasn't anything particularly 'monstrous' about them. In fact, all of them could have been mistaken as eccentric individuals who covered their faces with colorful bird-like masks. Three of them wore blue robes, while the other three wore red. For a few seconds, they tittered among themselves as they stole glances towards the visitors, half curious, and half apologetically fearful of the wind mage that graced their presence.

"He actually came!"

"We're in trouble now... kehaha."

"When are we not?"

"Oh just shush it and we'll be fine!"

"Did the moblins blab?"

"Did you actually think they wouldn't?"

"Who's that?"

"Isn't that-?"

"The princess!"

"Ohoho..."

"Are you just going to chatter amongst yourselves or…?" Vaati tapped a finger against his side impatiently and let the sentence hang threateningly. It was enough to catch the monsters' attention, and they bowed clumsily, almost too dramatically, and then signaled the visitors to follow them further into the mansion where there was a small empty table with three chairs. While the six wizzrobes escorted them, the other wizzrobes observing them from the shadows scurried out of the way, and even though they were out of sight, Zelda couldn't shake off the feeling that they were still being watched. She and Vaati took a seat at the table, while the six wizzrobes gathered behind the remaining chair, discussing who among them would be the one to sit down. It seemed that none of them were keen to speak with the increasingly irritated, extremely powerful sorcerer directly. After much debating, they finally managed to pick a sacrifice; a blue ice wizzrobe who, from the tidbits of conversation that Zelda could catch, had apparently committed some kind of offense earlier and therefore deserved to have the worst role.

It plopped onto the empty seat dejectedly, and gave a small shrug. "Keha… uhm, hmm, it seems I will have the pleasure of being the spokesperson today. I suppose I will have to play my role with a bit of flare." Zelda watched the monsters with interest: this was definitely a lot more different than what she'd seen of the moblins. The wizzrobes, at least this one, was very fluent in Hylian. Since language wasn't a barrier, why didn't Hyrule ever try to negotiate with them? Was it really because their cultures were so conflicting? While the princess was having these thoughts, the wizzrobe cleared its throat with a small cough and began again much more assuredly, "To what pleasure does Lord Vaati come to us today?"

"You know full well what I'm here for. We've already discussed this enough times and I don't like to repeat myself: call off the attack on Hyrule," Vaati growled.

"Oh, oh, but you know we don't just follow _anyone,_ Lord Vaati, highly esteemed sorcerer that you are" the ice wizzrobe tutted boldly, causing some of his comrades behind him to give him a warning headshake that he was taking his act a little too far, "because you see, there are some among us who think you have gone too soft with your recent schemes. One of these individuals you struck a sort of challenge with, and is the reason why you will not kill us if you can help it."

The previously panicked wizzrobes behind the spokes-robe calmed down, and instead nodded in agreement this time, rallying behind his confidence. They had immunity – how could they forget?

Vaati gave a blistering glare. "You know too much, wizzrobe."

The ice wizzrobe cackled. "Word gets around, Lord Vaati."

"Mmhmm," Vaati hummed thoughtfully. Then, he snapped his fingers and the laughing wizzrobe suddenly began to cough and hack, grabbing its throat and looking around wildly in confusion. The sorcerer sneered as he watched the ice wizzrobe slowly choke to death. "It's hard to laugh if you can't breathe, isn't it?" he smiled maliciously. He let the wizzrobe struggle for air for a few more agonizing seconds, and then flicked his fingers to let the air flow back around the monster's face.

The ice wizzrobe fell back on his chair while the rest of the wizzrobes snickered behind him in a 'serves-him-right' kind of way. All this time, Zelda couldn't help but watch the entire exchange in disapproval at how… barbaric it all was with threats and taunts and uncivilized exchanges every few seconds.

"A wonderful joke, although rather painful," the ice wizzrobe wheezed in good humor, regardless of the fact that he'd almost been choked to death. "But as I was saying, we wizzrobes don't just follow anyone, Lord Vaati. And you must understand that we are not the only ones who share this sentiment, especially with the other Masters being skeptical of your power."

At this, Zelda tilted her head, curious. The people of Hyrule had always assumed that the monsters would listen to someone like Vaati without question, but the more time she spent with the sorcerer, the more she was beginning to learn that this was not the case. As different their societies may be, even monsters, it seemed, had some discontent with their rulers. But the mention of the Masters was another point she wasn't familiar with; there was obviously some kind of hierarchical structure within monster society – she wondered how many levels of power there were, and who was actually standing at the top…

Vaati was smiling, but it was in no way pleasant or friendly. It was the kind of smile that would send people running the other way. As fast as they could. The room almost felt cooler from that smile alone. "Just what, exactly, is there to be skeptical of?"

"Brrr," the ice wizzrobe shuddered dramatically, encouraging muffled snickers from his group behind him. "Well you see," he immediately continued before Vaati could decide to kill him for good this time, "the first, erm, _issue_ I suppose we can call it, is this idea of marrying this lady," he pointed at the princess sitting next to the sorcerer like she was a baffling anomaly. "Marriage… we just don't… it's a very _human_ idea, Lord Vaati. Very Light World concepts. Some of the Masters consider it weak of you to follow such human traditions."

"Irrelevant," Vaati snapped dismissively. He didn't even give a detailed refute, and simply left it at that. "And the second point?"

The ice wizzrobe blinked, and then gathered his thoughts again. "Hmm, I see. The second point is we have never actually won following you, Lord Vaati."

"And you think you'll do better on your own, do you?" Vaati hissed.

"I'm merely relaying the opinion of the greater Masters, Lord Vaati, we are but lowly minions who won't dare question those of higher rank," the wizzrobe retorted somewhat huffily, although it was a very subdued kind of retort that indicated the wizzrobe didn't want to upset the sorcerer of winds _too_ much. Then, the wizzrobe laughed in an attempt to dissipate the tension, and put down a polished black wooden cup and three green dice on the table in front of them. The wizzrobe leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands, and peered up at the sorcerer inquisitively while the princess shrank back: she might have thought them similar to Hylians before, but there was something about the way those eyes gleamed that wasn't exactly human. "That isn't to say we're not willing to follow you, Lord Vaati. We just need a little convincing. We all think very highly of you and your magical prowess. I suppose that's why we're having this meeting."

"And let's say I get bored of trying to fulfill this challenge by a certain 'Master' and decide to kill all of you if you won't listen," Vaati mused dangerously.

The wizzrobes, however, weren't miffed much like the moblins had been. "Then that is truly too bad. Death does not frighten the cannon fodder when we have ideals to live by," the ice wizzrobe replied cheerfully. "But please, Lord Vaati, just entertain us a while longer and we guarantee that in the next few minutes you will be leaving with our support or you will be leaving with our heads."

At this, there was a sharp correction from one of the other wizzrobes that no, he wasn't going to leave with their heads.

"… or you'll be leaving with… Oh bosh it. You will see after I explain, kehaha! We propose to play a simple gambling game, completely based on luck," the ice wizzrobe waved his wiry hands at the cup and the three dice on the table, while Vaati's expression of skepticism continued to grow, "If you win, we pledge our allegiance to you."

Whatever irritation and rage had been in Vaati's voice was now replaced by skeptical disbelief. "… You're saying this is going to come down to some kind of coin toss?"

Even Zelda was confused now. She pinched the bridge of her nose. _I think I get why we don't negotiate with Wizzrobes…_

"Trivial Hazard! It is not just some kind of coin toss," the ice wizzrobe quipped indignantly. "Fate is a nasty thing, and quite powerful in the right hands. I am sure both you and the princess know of this already."

Vaati scoffed. "I didn't take you to be the religious sort, to be honest." He ignored the chorus of giggles at the mention of religion.

"If Fate smiles on you, Lord Vaati," the wizzrobe snickered, "then we will follow your lead. Now our wager is the power of our entire Guild at your disposal, which I understand is instrumental in convincing a rather stubborn Master. We expect a similarly steep wager from you."

"I don't see why I have to be on equal terms with mere wizzrobes," Vaati shot.

Did she imagine it, or did the wizzrobe's eyes narrow behind his mask? Zelda couldn't tell, but his voice was less cheerful than before. "Then surely you have nothing to fear from a wager by _mere_ wizzrobes?" the creature mused.

With a snarl, Vaati slammed his palm down on the table. "Fine."

"No land or money, please, Lord Vaati. Those things are of no value to us."

Vaati stared at the three dice in front of him with a cold look on his face. He rolled the dice around his fingers for a few seconds thoughtfully, and seemed to be thinking of what he would risk. Then, a rather nasty little smile appeared on his face as he set the dice back down. "How about we do this instead?" he began, catching the attention of the wizzrobes, "you promise your Guild, as well as the complete obedience of the Darknuts which I know you can do with your Summoners…"

There was a hushed whisper from a fire wizzrobe that "that might be too much."

"And I," Vaati reached a hand over around Zelda's shoulders, "will gamble the princess of Hyrule."

"WHAT _?_!" Zelda cried, standing up abruptly from her seat. Her mind pulled a blank. This was _not_ part of anything she and Vaati had discussed, and how dare he put her up on the market like she was some tradable commodity!

She was powerless to do anything, however, because before she knew what was happening, the wizzrobes had already decided their answer. Grinning behind his mask in pleasant surprise, the ice wizzrobe picked up the dice from the table. "Deal."


	12. Trust Me

Zelda's fists were clenched, and she glared at Vaati who remained casually sitting in his seat, giving no indication that she had stood up out of anger. Everyone's attention was placed somewhere else: Zelda was glaring at Vaati, Vaati was looking at the three dice on the table disinterestedly, and the ice wizzrobe across from them was looking at Zelda in expectant excitement as though he half expected her to do something outrageous.

Eventually, Vaati, leaning back in his chair like a king on his throne, spoke to the air in a bored manner without so much as a glance towards the furious princess. "Sit down, princess."

The ice wizzrobe chuckled along with the rest of the wizzrobes behind him, and reached out for the dice on the table. "She doesn't look like she's in agreement, Lord Vaati." He dropped the dice into the black cup, causing them to rattle loudly. "Would you bet on the first half or the second?"

"The first," Vaati drawled.

"So if any value between one and nine rolls, you win. If any value between ten and higher rolls, we win. Are we agreed on that point?"

"Mhmm," Vaati nodded. Then, he tilted his chin towards Zelda and cast a stern side-glance. "I said sit _down_ , princess." His voice had a dangerous edge now, and a warning that she was somehow ruining the plan. It made her even angrier because if it _had_ been a part of the plan, he should have at least given her some warning about it. Never mind the fact that he might have come up with the idea on the spot, but that made this whole thing even riskier and outright stupid. Stupid! This whole thing was stupid! She never should have gone along with this!

Except that would mean she'd turned her back on her own country…

Finally, with a small huff, Zelda sat down slowly, her arms crossed over her chest. She turned her anger instead towards the wizzrobe who was observing her amiably, still rattling the dice obnoxiously. "You couldn't think of a better wager?" She frowned, "what would wizzrobes even want with me? Don't tell me they want me to be a wife too?" she added sarcastically, not caring if her attitude would make Vaati very upset with her. Before the sorcerer could respond, the wizzrobe answered for him.

"Kehaha! You don't seem to be fully understanding the situation, princess," he laughed, "you are indeed quite valuable, especially for practitioners of magic. You are one of the few people with the magic of the goddesses. That kind of magic is not easy to come by, and many sorcerers would risk quite a bit to study it. Why do you think the female Hylian royals have been such a recurring target?"

 _Oh I don't know, maybe it's because one ASSHOLE has been after Hylian princesses since goddesses knows how long!_ Zelda shot an accusatory glance at the sorcerer who was lounging casually in his chair next to her. She didn't say her thoughts out loud, and instead turned back to the wizzrobe. "So I'm going to be your test subject, is that it?" she asked in disgust.

The ice wizzrobe shrugged. "Sure. But don't ask me, ask them," he nodded his beak towards the rest of his group behind him who was already discussing what they would do after they won. "Actually, don't ask them, because they probably don't have a clue. We all don't really have any idea what we're doing, to be honest, which makes everything exciting. Volatile," the wizzrobe chuckled, "Kehaha, who knows, we might even turn you into one of us."

Zelda bit her cheek, and rounded on Vaati. "And you're just going to sit there and let them do that to me? _!_ "

" _Princess_ ," Vaati growled. The word came out slow and lazy, but it was dangerous and full of tension like a coiled snake. His red eyes slowly turned towards her, narrowing in warning. "I already told you to sit down. Do I have to tell you to be quiet as well?"

Zelda was about to retort, to tell him exactly what she thought of his attitude towards her and how ridiculous he was being, but then she saw something in those frightening red eyes. They sent her a message that was different than the malicious tone of his words, and this unspoken message was for her and her only. She was actually so startled that she did fall silent, and sat back in her chair without another word of protest.

_Trust me._

Zelda sat down, averting her eyes out of embarrassment and she looked down at her hands. _Huh?_ Her thoughts were a puzzled mess, now, as she tried to come to terms with how a.) ridiculous this whole situation was, b.) how she definitely did not deserve to be a gambling bet which she had no control over, c.) how utterly infuriating Vaati was, and d.) how sincere his expression had been just now. Her feelings fluctuated from extremely upset to mildly upset, and she was becoming more and more confused if she should even be upset.

" _Princess,_ " Vaati's voice put her back in focus. The way his words were strained suggested he'd been trying to get her attention numerous times now since she'd sat down. Zelda blinked, and then looked at the cup full of dice that was being offered towards her by the ice wizzrobe across the table. "Please take the dice. You'll be rolling them."

"Obviously more fair than if any of us or Lord Vaati rolls it," the ice wizzrobe explained, although a hint of sarcasm was apparent in his voice as he eyed the wind mage carefully.

"Uh, alright," Zelda took the cup slowly, unsure of the new responsibility that was suddenly thrown at her while she'd been trying to sort out her thoughts. So… all she had to do was roll the dice around in the cup and drop them onto the table? That was it? That was all that was going to determine whether or not the wizzrobes were going to listen to Vaati (and by extension, whether or not they were going to attack Hyrule)? She reached a hand into the cup and picked up one of the dice. It was translucent green, and besides the color wasn't at all speci-

"Ow!"

"Aahahahaha!"

Zelda shook her hands and the dice bounced back into the cup. Or rather, it hopped back into the cup. She looked at her thumb where something had nipped it, and sure enough there were tiny little teeth marks where the… the _die_ had bit her. She cautiously peered back into the cup and while two of the dice were still normal, one of them had turned into some kind of eyeless frog-like creature that was still hopping around inside the cup. She was about to yell at someone, but Vaati had dealt with the trouble maker first.

Instead of six wizzrobes in the room, there were only five now: all that was left of one of the fire wizzrobes who had laughed too loudly was a puff of purple smoke. The remaining wizzrobes didn't seem too bothered, despite the fact that one of them had met an unfortunately early demise, and were preoccupied by trying not to giggle loudly. Vaati brought his fingers down slowly, and Zelda could still see tiny sparks jumping across them. "The next one who so much as chuckles is going to end up like that one," Vaati said slowly, while the wizzrobes all looked like they were ordered to stop breathing on punishment of death, "now someone return that dice back to normal so we can get this over with."

"Erm, yes Lord Vaati," the ice wizzrobe complied, fidgeting a little in his seat from trying too hard not to chuckle. There was a small 'clunk,' and when Zelda looked back in the cup, there were three ordinary dice remaining. She sighed tiredly, and then perked up when something occurred to her. She looked at Vaati, and then the ice wizzrobe, and then at Vaati again. Both of them were studying each other's expressions carefully from the way they were leaning forward now. _Ah… so it's not just a game of chance,_ she thought. _They're both going to cheat._

Well then, if that's the way this was going to be, then Vaati had damned better be a good cheater.

She took her hand and placed it gently over the tumbling cup. Vaati and the wizzrobe were watching her expectantly.

Taking a deep breath, she shook the cup, the dice rattling inside. Then, after a few seconds, the dice came tumbling out of the cup onto the table.

Instead of three dice, there were eighteen on the table, and all of them had a value of one.

All of the wizzrobes burst into laughter, while Vaati and Zelda looked at the table blankly. The fact that Vaati looked as though he hadn't expected this sort of trick was troubling enough for Zelda, and her cheeks grew gradually warmer from the blood that had rushed up to her face. The sorcerer didn't notice, and was instead glowering at the ice wizzrobe in front of him who had put his hands up to his face to stop laughing. Another wizzrobe who couldn't shut up in time met an untimely demise by Vaati once again. "Summoning? None of you are summoners," he glared at the four remaining monsters.

"Indeed not," the ice wizzrobe confirmed, while the other fire and ice wizzrobes nodded. "Everyone in this room is restricted to ice or fire magic."

"Except that it's obvious not everyone has been following those rules."

The wizzrobe shrugged, "Obviously there were eighteen dice in play to begin with," he said dismissively. Then, he added brightly, "Curious though that they all landed on the lowest value possible, hmm? Still, you did agree that we win for any value ten and higher, so I guess we win, kehaha!"

"Vaati! You… you…" Zelda burst out, her shoulders shaking in anger. She was so angry that she couldn't even come up with an appropriate word for him that would fully describe just how much of a failure he was. And what was that whole thing about the ' _Trust Me'_ gaze? _ARGH I can't believe I even fell for that!_

"Dear – "

"Oh don't you ' _dear'_ me right now!"

"Princess!" Vaati snapped. "You have light magic."

Zelda rounded on the sorcerer, who was still sitting in his chair with that unnerving air like he was some kind of king even though he'd lost. "And that's going to help this how?"

Vaati's eyes narrowed irritably. "Clarity. Use it."

The princess glared at the wind mage for several long seconds. Even in this situation where Vaati had obviously messed up, he was sitting on his self-appointed throne full of arrogance and overflowing confidence. The nerve! And he automatically assumed that she knew how to cast Clarity, a type of light magic that could disentangle truth from lies, revealing true sight. Of course she knew it because Impa had taught her during her crash course on self-defense Sheikah training, but for him to work under assumptions like that when her life was on the line… it made her think all sorts of violent things to inflict on him that wasn't with her usual nature. A part of her even wanted to pretend she didn't know how to cast Clarity just to spite him.

She stared at Vaati for a little longer than was necessary, and then bit her bottom lip thoughtfully, as though she were trying to remember how to cast Clarity. Just when she could see the corner of Vaati's eye twitch, perhaps from that arrogant confidence actually crumbling with doubt, she finally moved her hands over the eighteen dice and cast the spell. She smiled inwardly to herself when she glimpsed the tension leave the sorcerer's brows in relief as fifteen of the dice shimmered under the spell and turned into ice cubes. _Serves him right._

"So the actual value," Vaati leaned back again as the ice cubes melted, "is three. So I guess I win."

"Hmmm," the ice wizzrobe scratched the side of his face thoughtfully while the others behind him entered a heated discussion. Then, there was a whole lot of shrugging and another fit of chuckles. The ice wizzrobe threw his hands up in the air. "Alright! Taking Fate into your own hands. We can get that."

"Fate. Indeed." Vaati stood up, his disinterested attitude returning now that everything was resolved. "Now are we done here?"

"Definitely, Lord Vaati! We now answer to you. Right this way, we'll escort you ou-"

"I can find my own way out," he interrupted, annoyed, and held out a hand towards the princess. "We're going."

Zelda didn't take his hand immediately, still peeved by everything that had happened in the last hour. When she did eventually take it, it was with the stiffness of a statue. This didn't go unnoticed by Vaati, and although he didn't say anything, he walked through the wizzrobe mansion with a frown. He was completely silent until the last of the monsters had cheerfully waved them out, and he was flying back to the Palace in demon form with Zelda in his claws.

" _Good work_ ," was the first thing he said when they were up in the air.

The princess had her arms crossed over her chest. She looked as though she wasn't going to say anything, but eventually decided to give him a curt, "Thank you."

There were several long, awkward minutes where only the sound of wind rushing by could be heard.

" _I knew it was a perfect idea to make you my wife,"_ the demon eye began again, looking quite pleased with himself as he flew towards the Palace. " _Now that the wizzrobes and the moblins are dealt with, I can continue to do what I like. Well, disregarding the minor business that still needs to be sorted with the Lizalfos. And it's all thanks to… well I would say you, but it was mostly me, and me getting you to join me which was the great plan, so basically I am great."_

"Yes."

Vaati fell silent again. Zelda was agreeing with him almost immediately for a change, but for some reason that didn't make him feel as great as he should. "Yes? That's all you have to say?"

Zelda nodded, and she ignored the giant eye that now fixed its gaze on her back.

An audible huff was heard, and whatever bit of good humor Vaati may have had earlier vanished. "If there's something you want to say, then speak freely." He waited several minutes for any kind of response, but there was nothing. He was about to clench his claws in frustration, but stopped himself because he realized that would result in a princess crushed in half. Instead, he shook only his free claw in frustration.

Why wasn't she speaking? Even the most socially handicapped individual would be able to tell that something had set the princess off. She had been perfectly fine before they had visited the wizzrobe's mansion, and now she was visibly upset. And to make things worse, she wasn't even directing her anger at anything in particular, and she wouldn't even tell him why she was mad.

Was it because he'd kidnapped her? Because if that was it, then frankly it was getting quite old, because they'd gone over this one too many times. Yes, she was upset about that, he got it. But was it really worth either of their time and energy to constantly be fuming about it? Vaati thought not.

No, no, no, that couldn't have been it, because she hadn't been like this earlier in the day. It had to be something that had happened after the visit to the wizzrobe mansion. What could it have been? It couldn't have been the fact that he'd gambled her over to the wizzrobes, because he'd been absolutely certain that he would win. And he did win. Everything worked out in the end, just like he'd expected, so that couldn't be the reason why she was mad right now.

Ugh, but why did this even bother him anyway? He didn't actually care about what she thought about him. He practically expected her to hate him forever for everything he was doing, so why was the fact that she was mad making his mind go around in circles? Well, okay, so he probably cared because she was being really extremely amazingly irritating by being unreasonably passive aggressive, and all of this silent treatment with absolutely zero interesting reactions was the very definition of Not Amusing. If he wanted to have a quiet girl who was pretty to look at, then he could easily have picked some random girl off the streets, turned her into a statue and propped her in the Palace.

In fact, he would have turned the princess into a statue much earlier if he hadn't thought that keeping her alive would be an entertaining exercise.

What bothered him the most was that he had no idea why she would be mad at him. He hadn't even gone out of his way to annoy her today.

The demon eye's wings slowed slightly as it looked out at the sky thoughtfully.

Actually… maybe she wasn't actually mad at him. She did say earlier that she was talkative when she was mad. And since she was quiet… that meant that she wasn't mad?

Vaati's gaze steeled. How ridiculously outrageous! She wasn't even mad at him and he had to put up with this nonsense? _!_ With renewed anger, Vaati brought the princess in front of his face, furious. " _I order you to speak."_

Zelda frowned, the corners of her lips tugging into a frown. "And what is it you'd like me to say?" she asked, her expression detached.

" _Why are you being so compliant?"_

By this time, they had arrived at the Palace again, and Vaati set her down on the white stone floor of the balcony of one of the taller towers. He wasn't about to let her walk away, however, and he quickly flew in front of her path, blocking her with his enormous bulk. The demon eye looked down at her challengingly, with a glare that would have left only the bravest standing.

Zelda wasn't impressed, however, and she returned an equally scorching stare. "There's no point," she stated simply.

Vaati didn't budge. " _What isn't there a point to?"_

"If I say something now, we're just going to argue and be extremely angry at each other," Zelda gave a tight-lipped smile that was anything but friendly.

" _Well I'm already passed annoyed and I'm becoming more irritated by the second, so I think we're too late for that consideration."_

Zelda sniffed, and then daringly turned her back to the demon eye, leaning against the railings and looking out at the sky in front of her. "Then you tell me, Vaati," she began slowly, still with her back towards him, "you don't think there was anything wrong you did at the wizzrobe mansion?"

The eye flapped its wings angrily, and then with a puff of smoke turned back into an offended sorcerer. Vaati stomped over to the princess and slammed his hands against the railings, catching her attention. "I do _not_ have the patience to play guessing games with you, princess!"

The princess sighed tiredly, and then she stood up to her full height, looking back at the sorcerer icily. It was clear what her message was: yes, she would tell Vaati why he was wrong, but the cost of that would be that he would have to face the entirety of her wrath. It was such a convincingly frightening look that for a split second it almost looked as though the sorcerer was second-guessing himself for forcing her to tell him why she was upset. "So you don't think for a moment," she spoke slowly and deliberately, "that offering me as a gamble without discussing it with me, would make me upset?"

"That's what you're upset about? I got what I wanted… _you_ got what you wanted!" Vaati shouted, "And don't forget for a moment that you're my prisoner. Know your place," he added, seething.

"I am your wife – "

Vaati grabbed her wrist forcefully, interrupting her. "Don't use that word so conveniently, dear," he whispered dangerously.

"I am your _wife_ ," Zelda repeated, yanking her wrist out of his grip, "and you will treat me like one or you will cease calling me that!"

"Then you will start acting like one," Vaati shot.

Zelda, still pinned between the railings and Vaati, matched his gaze coolly. "I don't think I'm the one with a problem."

The sorcerer's lips curled into a nasty grin and he edged his face closer. "Oh? It almost sounds as though you're willing to embrace your role as my wife after all this time resisting. Is that what I'm hearing?"

"No. I am telling you to choose." Zelda replied smoothly. "A wife is not a prisoner. A prisoner is not a wife. That," she clenched her fists, "is all I am saying. So which is it, Vaati? What, exactly, is my role?" All this time, even under the sorcerer's frightening gaze, Zelda hadn't shrunk back even a millimeter.

Vaati fell silent, searching her challenging expression for some kind of weakness. He found none. He couldn't answer her question without her turning his response into some kind of counterattack to show how flawed he was. Anything he said now, she could use against him.

Because at this point, no matter what he said, he was wrong and she was right.

Despite this situation, Vaati couldn't help but smile. Zelda looked back at him warily when she saw the smirk appear on his face, and she tensed as he pulled back, giving them both some room to breathe. Vaati chuckled in silent approval. Yes, she was good. Very good. Just the way he wanted her to be.

He wasn't about to answer her question, so instead he changed the subject. "Alright, so I did place you as a bid. And so what of it? In the end it was a necessary action that ultimately led to my success, and as far as I'm aware it benefited us both. I receive the cooperation of another monster faction, and your Hyrule won't be overrun by them. I'm not seeing a problem here."

"You didn't even discuss this with me."

"I didn't think it was necessary."

"Also, you were almost outplayed by those wizzrobes and if I wasn't there to cast Clarity-"

Vaati raised a hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. "But I wasn't. And you did cast Clarity."

"Those were assumptions that just happened to be true."

Vaati crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed, while Zelda had the exasperated expression of someone talking to a wall. "So basically you're telling me that you're upset by imaginary scenarios of what-ifs and maybe's."

"You took my life and risked it irresponsibly!" Zelda cried. "Is that not reason enough for me to be upset?"

At this, Vaati leaned in again, his expression deathly serious. He reached out, grasping her by the wrist, more gently than before but still firm. "Never," he spoke softly, just barely above a whisper, "tell me that I am using your life irresponsibly. No one will harm you. No one will take you from me. And may the goddesses have mercy on anyone who dares try to steal you away from me."

Zelda's frustration and anger dissipated as she looked into his eyes. Vaati's words were not spoken with his usual tone of mixed boredom and disinterest. As odd as it was given her position as a captive, his tone suggested he'd never been more serious about the fact that he would protect her. It was the same exact look he'd given her back at the wizzrobe's mansion, when he'd sent her that unspoken message telling her to trust him. At the time she hadn't been able to make sense of his gaze, leaving her confused, but now she knew. Perhaps it was something borne out of extreme arrogance, which translated into unwavering confidence that there was absolutely nothing in the world that could take her away from him. That as long as she was with him, nothing could hurt her.

 _Trust me_.

"I… I…" Zelda faltered. She almost understood where he was coming from, as flawed as his logic was. And that made her more upset than anything. Besides, how could she trust him when he didn't even trust her? But what was she even saying… that was almost like she was actually considering the option of trusting this kidnapper and villain of all of Hyrule. "I can't…" she finally blurted. She wrenched her hand away from his grasp, and took a few steps away.

Vaati tilted his head, puzzled. "Can't… what?"

But before he could hear his response, Zelda had stumbled back, running away from him. She ran out of sight, into the castle and down the stairs.


	13. Duet

_No no no no no no no no!_

Zelda ran through the castle, moving through the halls aimlessly with no real destination in mind. All she knew was that she had to get away before she fell for his tricks again: he'd fooled her with that earnest gaze to trust before, and she wasn't going to be sucked into that again.

Why did she even have to worry about that though? From the moment she had been kidnapped she was fully aware that Vaati was someone who would never earn her trust.

But then… but then somewhere over the course of this entire mess, starting from when he'd claimed her as his, he'd shown her one thing she actually _could_ trust him on: he wasn't going to let anyone do her wrong.

But, what about Vaati himself? He didn't hesitate to threaten her, raise his hand against her, strip her of her freedom and lock her up like…

but he didn't. He hadn't. The things that had locked her up in her quarters had been the monsters prowling the Palace and her own assumptions. He'd threatened her, but he'd never physically hurt her. He'd raised his hand against her, but not before she had raised her hand against him.

UGH why was her brain even trying to defend him? He didn't deserve her benefit of doubt!

But maybe, just maybe, she'd seen something change. Even if it was subtle, he didn't first order her or force her to do things anymore. In the past few interactions he'd given her the semblance of a choice, and he was actually… listening, maybe, to the things she had to say instead of dismissing them as silly.

It… still didn't excuse him from being an absolutely horrible creature, however, which was why she was so conflicted. He had kidnapped her against her will and treated her as less than a person by speaking of her as an object. A trophy. Could she ever forgive any of that?

Did she even _have_ to forgive any of that?

No. And especially not since he never gave any indication that he was sorry for everything he'd done.

But why? Why why why _why_ was the idea of forgiving even being considered? Something must seriously be wrong with her to even think of something like that. Why couldn't he stay terrible? Why did he have to start listening to her, even if it was only a subtle difference? How did this idea that she might be able to make a difference on him manage to wiggle into her head?

Her footsteps slowed as they ran into the room with the dusty, unused piano. She stood still, staring at it for some time, frazzled and wild-eyed. Still a mess, she stumbled forward towards the instrument, and then dropped onto the seat in a daze. She fumbled with the lid and eventually, she propped it open clumsily and placed her fingers unsteadily on the keys.

_I… I need to clear my head._

Music. It was the one thing that could give her peace whenever she was agitated. Sometimes, it was the only thing that could keep her sane back in Hyrule when the weight of her responsibilities almost seemed too much. There was a lullaby she'd learned from Impa, and one that she vaguely remembered her mother playing before she passed away, which could always lift the weight off her shoulders. She needed to hear it now. She needed a familiar piece of security that could ground her again.

Zelda's fingers shook for a second, and then they pressed down on the keys dejectedly. "I don't know how to play the piano," she whispered to the air. She wanted her harp. No, she _needed_ her harp. Or a flute. An ocarina even.

Nothing. There was nothing in this Palace that could give her peace.

She gritted her teeth and brought her fingers down in an unpleasant discord of random notes, frustrated by her thoughts and paralyzed by what to do about them. As though to mock her further, those same thoughts turned into Vaati's voice, and they told her snidely that she was overreacting.

Her ears perked up to the sound of a soft flutter of wind by the doorway, and lo and behold the owner of the very voice she'd heard was standing right by the entrance with his hands propped against his sides and a frown on his face.

"I am _not_ overreacting," Zelda shot back defensively.

Vaati's frown deepened, and he seemed to hold back every nerve in his body not to shrug with a roll of his eyes. Instead, he returned a genuinely puzzled expression and a hint of concern for her sudden behavior. "I didn't say anything…" he said quietly. Vaati wasn't one to worry about how other people were doing, but when he was being accused of doing something he didn't know he'd done, well, that was something that _did_ worry him. A lot. He very much wanted to know of the things he did so he could take proper credit for them.

"Well you're thinking it," the princess refused to drop it.

"To be honest, princess, I have no idea what – " Vaati stopped himself. He had been about to say "what set you off," but something told him that he was going to get another earful like the last time the princess got upset and he said he didn't have a clue why she had to be _that_ angry. It wasn't that he couldn't handle an angry princess with an attitude; he was sure he could put her in her place if it came down to it. At the same time, though, he'd already experienced what a pain it had been to deal with an angry princess with an attitude, or worse, a sulking princess who had as much of an attitude as a rotting undead, and he was pretty sure he didn't feel like going through that routine again. So instead, he trailed off, and ended with a lame, accusatory "You're upset again."

Zelda barely looked up at him, and she pressed down on the piano keys over and over again as though she were trying to find a certain tune. For a split second, she hesitated when she heard the sorcerer stop himself from finishing the insensitive comment that he had no idea why she was upset.

She didn't look at him, but she could imagine the way he was looking at her now. She could imagine how he was standing off to the side, not really sure what to do and helplessly confused why she was this upset at him. And then that earlier comment she'd made came back to her: he just didn't get it. And… maybe it was because his background was so different than hers. After all, Vaati really only interacted with monsters, and from what she'd seen, monsters were insane in Hylian terms. Their cultures were too conflicting. Too different. To assume that Vaati thought like a Hylian was unfair. Of course he wouldn't understand…

Excuses, excuses, excuses! That was _exactly_ why he needed to be stopped! But ugh, how she did hate her empathy sometimes. It was that diplomat in her that completely got in the way of reasonable thinking sometimes. She was too _nice_. She needed to be mea –

"His name is the Helmaroc King."

The keys Zelda had been playing slowed to a tinkle. She hadn't noticed that Vaati had made his way over and was now leaning against the piano heavily.

"The Helmaroc King and I go back… well… we have a workable relationship," his words were careful, deliberate, as though he wasn't sure if he wanted to be disclosing such a personal matter to the princess. The corner of his cheek rebelled with a stubborn tug, but eventually he seemed to ignore it and continue. "He's a valuable ally. One of the best. I can trust him as long as we both know where we stand. The trouble," he said the word with difficulty, "is that he isn't happy with what I've been up to recently. He doesn't think I'm good enough right now without proof that I'm good enough, because he needs to know that his image won't be damaged by being associated to me."

Zelda's fingers had completely lifted from the keys now, and she was looking up at Vaati in surprised confusion. This… this confession wasn't something she'd expected, especially since the sorcerer had been so keen earlier not to tell her anything about the troubles with his personal matters. It had caught her completely off guard, and to her this conversation had come from nowhere.

But maybe, to Vaati, this conversation wasn't really from nowhere. He wasn't the type, based off of her previous experiences with him, to freely give away details of his troubles unless he saw no other alternative. It was something that would make him look weak, in his eyes, and therefore something he would never share voluntarily. Unless…

She searched his face. He'd averted his gaze now, nonchalantly, as though he hadn't said anything really interesting. But she could tell it was just a façade, and from the way the center of his forehead still had a few tense crinkles it was obvious that it had taken a good deal of effort on his part to finally let his pride go and tell her.

Perhaps this was the best apology he could manage given the circumstances. It wasn't a particularly _good_ apology, but somehow, the intention was almost there.

"Why…" Zelda's asked softly, "are you telling me this?"

Vaati stirred. He started to say something, but then his demeanor changed into something that Zelda was much more used to. He grunted dismissively, and his voice became businesslike, removing any trace that he'd sounded even the least bit sympathetic before. "We've secured the cooperation of the moblins and wizzrobes thus far. Helmaroc's condition was that I need to convince the moblins, wizzrobes, and the lizalfos before he agrees to work under my name with unwavering loyalty. Although I do not need your help, it would probably go much smoother if I have you accompany me for my last trip to the lizalfos, based on previous experience."

Zelda wasn't convinced. "But that's still not why you decided to tell me about the Helmaroc King." If that had really been an apology she needed to hear it. Had she imagined it?

But now Vaati was back on full defensive, and he brushed it aside irritably. He was no longer leaning against the piano carelessly, and the way he waved his hands suggested he wanted to end the topic quickly now that everything he'd meant to say had been said. He wasn't going to let Zelda pry any further. "I let you know because the lizalfos aren't an immediate threat to Hyrule and their cooperation is only for my benefit. So that if you _do_ decide to come with me, I _won't_ be accused of tricking you to come, or that I took advantage of you."

 _That's… not an apology at all_ , was the first thought to cross Zelda's mind. At the same time, there was another thought; the acknowledgement that this was very different from Vaati's earlier approach to getting her to do things his way. He wasn't forcing her to go. He was giving her a choice.

Zelda must have been staring incredulously at him for a few seconds too long, because suddenly the sorcerer snapped his head towards her, annoyed. "Now are you going to stop your silly little routine of getting upset like that?" He looked down his nose at her, almost childishly, with an expression that added an extra, "there, happy?"

Zelda stiffened, and her eyes began to narrow behind the strands of her red bangs that had fallen over her face. "Have you ever heard of this concept called apologizi-" she began pointedly, but Vaati interrupted her again.

"And never play piano again because you're absolutely terrible. I used to think the royals were proficient with instruments."

Zelda lost her voice. She almost thought she'd misheard him, since this was something that could come straight from a middle school bickering; the back and forth of pointless insults that had nothing to do with the original issue. Then again, she'd seen how utterly childish Vaati could get before, so this scenario wasn't that difficult to believe. Wanting to change the subject was one thing, but there were other ways than to act like a complete brat about it. It was so childish, in fact, that Zelda didn't really feel like getting angry anymore and was instead overcome with exhausted exasperation. "I –" she started to defend herself, or to call Vaati out on his idiocy, but then for whatever reason she couldn't help but crack a small grin. So maybe she was tired, okay? "I don't know how to play. I just… wanted to hear something familiar."

Vaati watched her carefully for a few seconds, and then after one huff, he dropped himself on the seat next to her, forcing her to move over. He regarded her some time with an unreadable expression, and the princess inched away, feeling increasingly uncomfortable by his proximity to her. Just before she stood up to create some distance, Vaati pushed his finger down on a key, making it ring in a high pitched tinkle. "Play something."

"I – what? I just said I don't –"

"Do it."

"You just said you don't want me t-"

"I changed my mind," he cut her off with that bratty stubbornness. With a small frown, he extended his hands in front of him and placed them on the piano keys. "Follow my lead."

Zelda peered at him with skepticism, wondering just what Vaati was up to now. She didn't have a clue, and he was being extremely silly right now. She might have even gone so far as to say he was behaving completely out of character right now, but maybe that was because she'd actually managed to make him uncomfortable somehow, and this was just his attempt to forget their previous talk even happened. It was kind of – she didn't know how to describe it, maybe relieving? – that he wasn't always up on his game, and that he did have human worries instead of always being that untouchably powerful sorcerer. Either way, when Vaati sat down in front of the piano next to her, confidently telling her to follow his lead, she'd expected that he might be good at playing. Or at least know how to play.

As soon as Vaati began to play, it became very clear that he didn't know anything about playing the piano.

"I… don't tell me you don't know-"

"I told you to play, princess."

Zelda bit the inside of her cheek, and she had half a mind to give him a snarky retort, but this was one of his more harmless requests. If he wanted her to play, then terrible playing was what he was going to get. With a stubborn frown that matched the sorcerer's Zelda squared her shoulders and began to press keys randomly on the lower octave, while Vaati stuck with the higher octave. Neither of them said anything, and while the rhythm made relative sense, but it was a duet that would have made Zelda's mother turn in her grave from the awful music her daughter was playing. Actually, to call it music would have been offensive. It was simply noise.

And what awful noise it was.

Still, neither of them relented, Zelda irritably continuing to play, refusing to stop unless Vaati did so first, while the sorcerer looked like he was far beyond caring about anything. It was maybe after six minutes of extremely serious horrible music that Zelda felt the beginnings of a snort tickle her nose, unable to take the silly exercise seriously anymore. This whole thing was unthinkably silly. Here she was, the princess of Hyrule, playing a duet with the prideful overlord of the Palace of Winds, and instead of a beautiful duet that would be expected from two people of high social status, they were being everything but elegant. They were like… they were like two children just banging random keys together on a dusty, untuned piano. Except they weren't children. And they were taking this very seriously. She stole a glance at the sorcerer next to her. His shoulders were shaking. That ticklish sensation along her nose finally escaped as an unprincesslike snort.

And then, they broke.

"Hahahaha!"

"Ahahahaha!"

They both doubled over the piano keys, laughing loudly. It was like all of the tension that had been built up between them for the past several weeks had been released at once into a fit of giggles and shrieking laughter. "Dear Din," Zelda wheezed when she'd finally caught her breath, and then giggled again after remembering the 'song' she'd just played, "that was really bad." She wiped a tear from her eyes.

"Ha," Vaati chuckled, "we're bad all right."

They laughed some more, both trying to be the first to recover from their laughing fit. It took a few tries, because one of them would preemptively hold their breath to stop giggling and then fail, causing the other to laugh even more. Laughter was contagious, it couldn't be helped.

Eventually, both of them calmed down until there was nothing but the occasional snicker and a small tug along the corner of their lips.

And then there was that silence again, when it dawned on Zelda that they had been laughing. That _she_ had been laughing with _him_. The word "we" bounced around her head for a little, and she began to feel a heavy weight in her gut when she realized that word didn't bother her as much as it had when she had first been kidnapped. She looked down at her fingers, and that was the first time she noticed how close, how _uncomfortably close_ her petite hands were to his slender pale ones; if she moved just three keys over she could touch his fingers. And then there was the fact that they were sharing one piano seat between the two of them, and that forced them to sit very close to each other. His cape just barely brushed against her shoulders.

This was wrong. He was Vaati.

But her body wouldn't move.

Vaati thankfully stood up before her, solving her dilemma. He straightened out the wrinkles in his cape, and stretched liberally, unaware that Zelda was troubled again. "Well princess, the day after tomorrow I'm going to make one last visit to the lizalfos so I can get the Helmaroc problem out of the way. Do let me know if you plan to join me, and preferably in a reasonable mood." He stuck out his arm. "Should I take you back to your quarters, dear?" he grinned.

"I…" Zelda hesitated, and when she realized she was frowning again, she feigned a smile. "I'd like to stay here for a little while. Alone."

Vaati didn't notice that something was wrong with the princess's smile, and gave a small shrug that seemed to say "suit yourself."

And just like that, he was gone. Although, he wasn't completely gone and she wasn't completely alone, because the sentry eye that watched her every move was still hovering over her head.

She had… laughed. He'd laughed too, and not in that malevolent chuckle of his that he usually did, but a lighter one. He'd actually looked carefree, devoid of any sort of concern and his normally steel cold guard down. Innocent. But how could that be, when he was far from innocent? She didn't know whether she should be sympathetic or absolutely terrified that Vaati… that demon eye… could look so normal. Could act so normal. She almost preferred that he act horrible because at least that image made _sense_.

And then guilt crept up when it dawned on her that all this time she had been getting him to change, arguing that they could work things over if he treated her like a person, but she herself never really expected him to change at all. Even if he did change, even just a little bit, her first instinct was to be horrified that her efforts to get him to respect her might actually be working. He was, whether he realized it or not, gradually getting better with her, while she was... she was still stuck where she was in the beginning. She didn't want him to change because the situation wouldn't be so black and white anymore.

She didn't want him to change because she might end up laughing again. She might laugh even more next time, and eventually…

Eventually…

Zelda rested her head in her hands, the keys of the piano singing a soft 'thrumm' from her elbows weighing down on them.

Eventually she might enjoy his company.


	14. Understanding

"What are you looking at?"

The sentry eye keeping Vaati company jumped out of guilt that it had been caught looking at its master, and then apologetically flew around in circles over Vaati's head, making a point that it was looking elsewhere.

"Hmph." Vaati sniffed, and then continued to make his way up the rocks along the mountain side. It was a day after he'd last spoken to the princess, and he was a little disgruntled that he had to miss their morning routine. It had been a bother at first, but now it had grown on him out of habit, and he couldn't help but feel restless when his routines had to change.

The sentry kept a few safe feet away from its master, fluttering its small bat wings to keep up with Vaati's brisk pace of hovering up the side of the mountain. The little creature squinted its eye for a few seconds, and then decided to send a brief image to its lord.

Vaati hopped onto a rock, stopping his upward travel when he saw the image in his head. It was the scene in the piano room yesterday, and it was followed by a brief transmission of a confused feeling that was the sentry's.

"And what of it?" Vaati sighed impatiently. He took a moment to look around at his surroundings, full of dusty red rocks and sparse thorny bushes poking out of the ground here and there. He'd passed the treeline, above where the lizalfos usually made camp, to get a better view of the area. He'd paid a visit to the lizalfos' region in the morning, before they were active, to scout for tomorrow's meeting himself. He anticipated they were going to be the most difficult of the three races to negotiate with and any advantage would be…

 _Wow did I just say 'negotiate?'_ Vaati shook his head.

Another image transmitted by the sentry flashed briefly before his eyes. This time it focused specifically on Vaati's hysterically laughing face from yesterday.

"If you're trying to tell me I looked funny," Vaati started dangerously, to which the sentry adamantly zipped back and forth "no." It transmitted a few more images, back and forth. It was the image of Vaati, when he had first kidnapped Zelda, and then back to the image from yesterday, and then back again. In both he was smiling, but the contrast was immense. They were quite different smiles, and one looked less cynical and actually…

Actually happy?

"It's not like I'm not allowed to look happy," Vaati scoffed, and he brushed the sentry aside. He knew what the sentry was getting at, however, even though he'd evaded the point. After all, it could be said that his sentries were an extension of himself, so it wasn't exactly easy to completely ignore them. The fact was, he hadn't laughed like that in a long, long time. It was so long ago that he'd forgotten what it was like to laugh so freely, letting go and allowing himself to be a little silly even. It felt… weird in retrospect. It didn't feel right for him to act like that since he'd spent so much time, well, so much time taking everything seriously. It wasn't necessarily a bad kind of weird. Just… different.

What happened in that piano room yesterday… he wasn't even sure what had come over him when he'd decided to randomly start playing the piano. He'd followed the princess to the piano room where she had fled after being spooked by something. He remembered they had been arguing about how he'd gambled her at the wizzrobe mansion, and then suddenly she'd looked at him with fear swimming in her eyes. That had startled him, and when he didn't understand why she was afraid…

Well, that upset him.

Vaati sat down on the rock he was standing on, and rested his chin on his hands thoughtfully as he stared out at the view of the rocky slope below him. That's right, he'd been upset when he'd seen Zelda look up at him in fear, instead of anger. In the very beginning, he'd teased her saying that his favorite expression on her fair face was a look of fear with a light blush. Now he realized that wasn't true, especially when he didn't know _why_ she had been afraid of him yesterday.

He'd found her hitting the piano keys in agitation, her fingers shaking and her teeth biting down on her lower lip, and looking like she was going to have another breakdown.

If there was one thing he learned from kidnapping the princess, it was that no matter how strong a person appeared to be, it was pathetically easy to push them over the edge. He wouldn't call Zelda 'broken' at this point, but he hadn't pushed her as far as he could.

The only trouble was, he didn't know what he had done this time to get that kind of reaction from her.

A tektite hopped by, several feet below him. It barely noticed the sorcerer sitting still above it, and with each hop it caused some loose pebbles to fall down the slope. The pebbles rolled down towards the trees that drew a line across the mountain, the clattering echoing softly in the air. Vaati watched the tektite until it was out of sight.

 _No, that wasn't the only trouble…_ Vaati thought. He was fairly certain now that if he wanted to completely crush the princess's spirit, he could do it. Easily. When this began he'd first been intrigued by Zelda's fierce spirit, and had taken it as a challenge as something to break. He'd been certain it would be fun to make her realize how hopeless it was to fight him. How utterly powerless she was against the Sorcerer of Winds. It would be another notch of victory that he could mark down, a symbol to show how he had succeeded in completely dominating over Hyrule. The trouble was…

_I don't want to break her anymore._

The sentry fluttered down beside him, tucking in its wings to look down at the view with him. It mirrored his own inner feelings of surprise at his thoughts, but then settled down into quiet acceptance. A tiny breeze furled around them both, as though to ask what was wrong.

The thing was, Vaati had experienced what it might be like if he actually did break the princess. During those few days when the princess had been so upset with herself and her situation, she'd become almost lifeless. He'd gotten the sense, then, that no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to do anything to get a reaction from her. He had been overcome with a sense of dreadful helplessness, and the fear of increasingly losing control of the situation. He would no longer be able to enjoy their little mental games and verbal sparring over breakfast.

Yes. Enjoy. He didn't realize how much fun he'd had trying to match wits with the incredibly sharp princess until she'd sunk into defeat, retreating into an empty shell of what she used to be. She'd been someone refreshing after all these years of only interacting with monsters, who never really had any sort of creative comeback to his light jabs. She was Wisdom after all; her comments were always demonstrative of her quick wit.

Back at the piano room, he'd seen her distressed, and all he knew at the time was that he didn't want to see her like that. He didn't know what to do, since whatever he said only seemed to make things worse for reasons he still didn't understand, so he did the only thing he knew; make a distraction. Play the piano. Anything! Anything besides talking.

He noticed the little sentry peering up at him from the rock it was sitting on. Vaati grimaced. "Alright, so I did do another thing," Vaati snapped irritably. He ignored the tiny voice in his head that told him it was silly talking to the sentry; after all, it could be said that the sentry was representative of himself since it had his personality meshed with it. It was almost like talking to himself, but if one spends hundreds and hundreds of years trapped in a sword all alone, you get good at keeping yourself company…

"I know I wasn't thinking when I told her about the Helmaroc issue. I could have just tricked her into helping me with the lizalfos by pretending they were a threat to Hyrule too," he muttered. The sentry said nothing, as all sentries do, and simply looked down again sadly at the rocks.

Or… maybe he'd felt like he owed her something, and decided not to trick her into helping him this time.

Vaati hovered up into the air again, the sudden movement causing the sentry to jump up in surprise and follow its master. Half-distractedly, Vaati made another quick round of the area, taking note of the various lizalfos camps he could make out between the trees below him near the base of the mountain. He'd had enough of his annoying thoughts that seemed to know more about himself than… well… him, (he shook his head fervently, trying to get rid of the remaining idiotic thoughts) and he wanted to get this morning over with so he could go back home and… maybe check up on the princess.

Vaati groaned, then, when he remembered how he'd last left the princess. She still hadn't told him whether or not she was going to help him or not. "Ugh, if she refuses I'm going to be so angry," Vaati scowled to the air. He glared at the sentry, who cowered away, "and she's definitely going to refuse. I just know it. She has no reason whatsoever to help me. _Why_ did I think telling her would be a good idea?"

The sentry agreed timidly. Yes, this is why he should have tricked her instead. Mentioning the Helmaroc King had been an obvious mistake.

Immediately in a foul mood, Vaati picked up speed, flying back towards the castle on a powerful gust, turning into his terrifying demon form. He flew above the trees, casting horrible shadows below, and the creatures that were already awake in these early hours scurried away in fright. " _Stupid, stupid, stupid!"_ he roared, and flew as fast as he could back to the Palace of Winds. All this time, dozens of ways to force the princess to cooperate swirled around his head. The princess was going to refuse, but he had no intention to let her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Just as Vaati reached the Palace, he checked on the sentry that kept watch over the princess. According to what it reported back, she was already awake, having eaten breakfast alone and was now wandering around the Palace. According to the sentry she'd been exploring quite a bit, and Vaati's lips flipped down into a small scowl at the news. Sure, he'd expected her to explore the palace, and there was no way she would be able to escape without his help, but that didn't mean he wasn't paranoid that he hadn't considered all possible methods of escape.

Even though he had the sentry follow her everywhere, it still didn't completely assuage his fears. She was chosen by Wisdom after all, and he'd already experienced her quick thinking. She was resourceful – she might think of ways to escape that he hadn't considered…

At the moment, she had taken a break from exploring and was now in a frustrating conversation with a poe. Half curious and half paranoid, Vaati made his way to where Zelda was in the Palace, but remained out of sight, eavesdropping on them through the sentry. He closed his eyes, and he could see the image of Zelda talking to the poe.

"So you're saying," she had her hands on her hips irritably – a pose he'd become well acquainted with – and she looked down unhappily at the ghostly monster that seemed to be an unwilling participant in the conversation, "that the only reason why you hate us is because we're weak?"

The poe shook its head no, its little lantern clanking as it swayed side to side. "No, not hate."

"But you think you should attack us," Zelda said flatly.

"The weak are attacked," the poe returned an equally flat expression, as though it couldn't understand why the princess couldn't understand such a simple concept.

From where he was, just behind the wall of the room the two were talking, Vaati couldn't help but smirk. _Oh princess, you just dug yourself into an impossible conversation._

"You have absolutely no reason to attack us though. Saying that you attack us because we're weak is ridiculous!"

"The weak deserve to be attacked," the poe tried to defend itself, completely bewildered. Why was this so hard to understand?

"All we want," Zelda took a deep sigh, and started again, gently this time, "is for us to live peacefully. If there's something you are unhappy about, we can negotiate. There's no need for lives to be lost."

The poe burst into a fit of mischievous giggles, much to the princess's dismay. "That is something the weak say."

"How dare you!"

"What is wrong with the strong taking what is theirs by their well-deserved power?"

"Because," Zelda could feel the beginnings of a headache, "people will die."

The ghost tilted its head, its faintly glowing eyes looking out from beneath its clouded hood. "There is nothing wrong to die by the hand of a more powerful opponent." Its statement was full of such innocent inquiry that the princess had trouble carrying on the conversation. It had all started with a simple, curious question. She'd found the poe wandering around the Palace, and upon learning that it was fluent in Hylian, she'd tried to learn more about monsters' opinions about Hyrule. The poe was now also beginning to look visibly upset, with its skeletal hands wringing against each other nervously and its faint lips turned down in a frown to match Zelda's. "It is the weak's duty to be a servant to the strong, or to die a glorious death. There is honor in serving the strong, or to die by their hand."

 _And that,_ Vaati thought from the shadows, _is exactly why I told you we DON'T negotiate with monsters._ Then, he thought of what had happened at the moblin and wizzrobe camps, _well, at least not in the sense you're used to._

"I just don't understand how your society hasn't already destroyed itself with such destructive ideas," Zelda muttered exasperatedly. She walked over and slumped down onto an empty couch across from where the poe was floating. The monster looked around nervously, meanwhile, unsure whether or not it was allowed to excuse itself. It would have loved to float away, but the Lord had made it quite clear that the princess was his partner and therefore a very powerful individual, and it didn't want to risk the punishments that would come with making the Lady upset.

"Rules are simple," the poe replied, still puzzled that the princess was finding this so hard to understand, "we have a clear hierarchy. Everyone knows where they stand, and so everyone knows who they must honor. Not everyone is fighting all the time."

"If it's so simple, then why is there even a squabble going on between the Helmaroc King and Vaati?"

At this, Vaati grimaced from where he was standing. He knew exactly why it wasn't so simple with him and the Helmaroc King, and while many of the monsters knew the reason he didn't need _her_ to know. He couldn't stop the monsters from finding out, but how could he live with himself if the princess found out that his… that his… that his origins weren't exactly something he was proud of? The sorcerer's eyes snapped open, and he edged closer to the door, ready to jump in on the conversation at a moment's notice. _If that poe so much as suggests anything I am going to rip its incorporeal body to shreds a thousand times over._

Maybe the poe sensed that dooming aura coming from behind the wall, or maybe the sentry that hovered over the princess suddenly looked extremely menacing. Either way, the little ghost monster hesitated, and then closed its lips shut tight, refusing to answer the princess's question.

Vaati relaxed somewhat, although still on his guard. _Heh. Smart servant._

The princess frowned at the poe's silence, and she leaned forward. Vaati was surprised and mildly amused that she continued to prove him wrong about being a polite, quiet girl who'd lived a sheltered life. The way she sat forward on the couch was reminiscent of a proud, almost dangerous kind of tyrant. It made sense, the sorcerer supposed, that she would be able to adapt and pick up on effective ways of getting people's attention since she'd spent her life being in the thick of politics, but to see her using these skills was an impressive sight.

The poe almost buckled under Zelda's demanding, no-nonsense gaze, but that sense of trepidation that something terrible would happen if it said anything turned out to be greater. It kept mum. The princess wasn't going to hear another word on the matter.

Zelda stared at the poe for a few more uncomfortable seconds before she finally gave up and shrugged. "You haven't convinced me that it's a good system," she shook her head. With a small tilt of her head, she smiled sadly. "If you die, wouldn't you have someone who will miss you? Family? Friends? Loved ones? Monsters have those too, don't they?"

Meanwhile, Vaati was trying not to laugh too loudly from behind the wall.

When the poe returned another one of its extremely bewildered expressions, Zelda's tiny smile began to transform into a tiny frown. "Um… don't they?" she asked, somewhat worried about what the answer might be.

The poe passed its lantern from one hand to the next, agitated. Just as Zelda seemed bothered by the responses she was getting, so too did the poe seemed bothered by her lines of questioning. "Love? Affection?" it wondered aloud, jogging its head for anything that made sense in this entire conversation, "those are things made up by Hylians. It's a concept that does not exist."

"But… but that can't be possible," Zelda stammered, "what about children? Even animals display affection to their own kin."

"Children don't exist."

"But that's not poss-" Zelda stopped herself, then, when she realized that she'd never seen nor heard of a juvenile monster. Now that she thought about it, there were never any reports of young monsters or old monsters. In all of the readings she'd done about monsters and the reports of attacks by monsters, everything on record was about fully matured creatures. Did they really have no children? But where did they even come from, then?

"We do not understand your obsession with nonexistent concepts. Our system is based on concrete hierarchies. Yours is based on abstract ideals. Our system is simple, whereas yours is complicated and messy. Your conflicts take much longer to resolve because of it."

Even though Zelda knew that the poe was only trying to help by explaining their differences to try to find a common ground, she felt even further from understanding monsters. She'd hoped that maybe, just maybe, talking to these creatures might help her lead Hyrule to a peaceful relationship with the monsters. She'd been determined that if she ever escaped from this place, she could take the things she learned here and apply them back home. Ever since she'd learned that some could speak Hylian she'd had a glimmer of hope, but the more she talked to these creatures the more daunting the task became.

To not know what love felt like… it was such a painfully sad condition that it pulled at her heart to see that monsters would never have the joy to love or be loved by anyone. Or maybe… maybe they were much happier than Hylians because they didn't know what they were missing, or the hurt that comes from being attached to someone.

And then… another thought came to her. She looked up slowly, her blue eyes betraying her distressed compassion. Whatever antagonism she'd had for the monsters before was replaced with pity. "Does that mean," she spoke softly, "that Vaati can't feel love either?"

" _Hello princess_ I see you're awake," Vaati said loudly, stepping into the room and shutting the conversation down to an abrupt halt. Zelda and the poe jumped in surprise, and the spectral monster took the opportunity to hurriedly vanish into the wall and out of sight.

"Hello… Vaati," Zelda answered hesitantly. She glanced up at the sentry hovering over her head, and then she looked at the sorcerer in suspicion, wondering just how much of the conversation he'd been listening to. She hoped he couldn't see the faint blush on her cheeks from the embarrassment of asking her earlier question.

Thankfully, the sorcerer didn't seem to take the easy opportunity to make the princess uncomfortable. Instead, he acted as though he'd heard nothing about the conversation with the poe. Vaati stood idly by the door, picking at his nails and lazily looking up at her from behind his lavender bangs. "I just came back from surveying the lizalfos camp. I still haven't heard your answer about whether you want to join me," he trailed off, his voice becoming slightly more guarded as he gauged her answer. He wasn't sure why he even asked – he was sure she was going to refuse. _I knew I should have just forced her to join me._

Therefore, he was surprised when the princess didn't skip a beat with her response. "I'll go."

Vaati's thoughts hit a mental speed bump, and then they had to backtrack a little to come up with a coherent response. "Oh," he said, "wonderful." _What? I must have misheard her there's no way…_

"It doesn't seem like you thought I would agree to go," Zelda observed, somewhat amused that she had caught the sorcerer off guard. She sighed. "That's part of the reason why I'm going to help you this time. You're right… you haven't been _that_ awful lately, and - " She bit her lip, her brows furrowed into a complicated expression. _Did I REALLY just say that aloud?_ She looked up, and her eyes narrowed when she noticed Vaati was now grinning at her like he'd won the universe, " _and_ ," she emphasized in a stern voice, trying to get him to look a little less pleased with himself, "I want you to see that you don't always have to force people to do things to get your way."

"So I finally got you to admit that you think fondly of me. That's very sweet of you, princess, I'm touched by your confession," Vaati grinned. He cackled when Zelda stood up huffily and shot him an unhappy glare.

"That's not what I said at all. I'm going back to my room for a little while," Zelda sniffed, peeved. "I'm sure you're busy and have better things to do than annoy me."

"That I do," Vaati gave a sly smile. He extended his arm, "I'll take you back, princess."

Zelda wordless took his arm with little resistance, which surprised Vaati even more. She was actually being agreeable for once, and even though Vaati had once thought that being with an agreeable person meant that things would be boringly predictable, he found that no, that wasn't the case. She was still interesting and her own person, still had that fiery determination, but at the same time she wasn't being unpleasant. Was her change just because he'd decided to give her a few choices on some matters? Was that really all it took? Ah, well, giving her choices was actually a pretty big deal… but she'd actually agreed to help him. _Maybe… it was a good thing I didn't force her to help me this time._

With these thoughts, Vaati cheerfully escorted the princess back to her room, his earlier tension and paranoia dissipated completely. Everything was going the way he wanted them to, and soon he would succeed in claiming supremacy over everything. Smoothly. Yes that's the word to describe how things were going. Before he'd been caught up in all sorts of annoyances and obstacles but now everything was going smoothly. It was going so smoothly he wondered briefly if he was allowed to believe it was all real.

It was not.

However, Vaati could not have known that.

Zelda walked with her chin tilted slightly towards her feet, lost in her thoughts and unable to look at the sorcerer directly. She'd only given Vaati half the truth on why she was agreeing to go with him. The other reason was that she'd hoped that if he came to trust her… then eventually she might have enough freedom to make her full escape. If she could somehow continue to accompany him to the surface, then one of these days she might be able to sneak away.

She clenched her free fist slightly, a touch of guilt weighing down on her when she thought of the deceit she would have to pull. She wanted to stop thinking of that image of Vaati in the piano room, looking so carefree and genuinely happy. She wanted to stop thinking about how he seemed to be making some kind of effort to treat her better recently, and that he understood her better now. She wanted to stop thinking about how her plan to escape relied on turning the sorcerer into a human being, and then destroying whatever trust she'd built in one fell swoop.

But she needed to escape. She desperately, desperately needed to escape. And soon. Otherwise, she could see herself starting to sympathize with Vaati's efforts, conscious or no, to treat her less like a prisoner and more like a person. A part of her could see what was happening: this pattern was like some of those unbelievable accounts she'd heard of people, who had been captured by monsters, sympathizing with them at the time of rescue. Before, she and many others believed that these captives had been bewitched or cursed by the monsters' black magic, but now… she wasn't too sure. Many of these captives were taken to a sanitorium for fear that they would turn traitor to Hyrule, but maybe when she returned she could change that policy. They weren't crazy. She wasn't crazy.

Was she?

A part of her knew what was happening to her and yet she couldn't stop it. Vaati's boyishly mischievous looks made it even worse: sometimes, he could just make himself look so innocent he could fool even the goddesses to smile with him. It was difficult to explain how one could look devilishly cunning and childishly innocent, but somehow Vaati managed to pull it off naturally.

_I need to escape before it's too late._

_Too late for what?_

Zelda squeezed her fist even more. _Stop… rationalizing._ At the same time, though, she was aware that her plan to escape was ruthless and brutal. There were few crimes worse than nurturing the trust of a mistrusting individual, only to betray them when they least expected it.

Would she be ready for the burning rage of one who had been betrayed after finally opening up to her?

_It doesn't matter. I just need to get away from here._

_Get away from here before it's too late._


	15. The One That Got Away

The moblins had been at dawn, the wizzrobes in the evening, and this time with the lizalfos they were leaving at noon when the sun was highest in the sky. According to Vaati, that was when they were the most active and therefore least grumpy from being tired or groggy. Zelda was fairly fast in getting ready this time, and she even had a few extra minutes to add a some extra details to her outfit. It wasn't any extra jewels or brooches that were in her bedside drawer tables, or cute ribbons to accentuate her lavender dress. No, it was something a little more sinister, which she figured would be a good extra precaution after she'd talked to the poe yesterday. Hidden beneath her dress, she'd wrapped a thin belt around her thigh and slipped a piece of jagged glass – the same one she had during her very first escape – through it as an extra weapon.

It didn't mean she was opposed to nonviolent talks like how the ones with the moblins and wizzrobes had gone, but after talking to the poe she finally realized why Vaati had laughed at her in the beginning. She was hoping for peaceful talks, but she wasn't going to be stupid or naïve about it. She'd been lucky the last two times, but Vaati was right: monsters were different. She had to be ready to defend herself if she found herself in a situation where she couldn't fight with magic.

That was also another thing Impa had taught her: to rely too heavily on magic was a dangerous practice. _Impa I'm sorry I complained about self-defense lessons, because now they're really useful to know._

"You know, you can just ask for a weapon instead of using some makeshift broken glass…"

Zelda whirled around at the sound of Vaati's voice behind her and she quickly dropped her dress back down over her exposed legs. The sorcerer was a few minutes early today, too. "If you're not careful, a woman might find reason to stab someone who's sneaking around while she's dressing," Zelda shot, not sounding very amused by his unexpected entrance. It wasn't like she didn't know he could look at her whenever he wanted thanks to the sentry keeping watch, but there was something about having him _actually_ in front of her that made her a little more embarrassed.

Vaati laughed. "I've no doubt. But really, now, what's a little piece of glass going to do to me, hmm?" He tilted his head with an interested smile. "Is that meant for me?"

"It depends," Zelda replied coolly.

"Ha! I see," he was relaxed, for now, even though the princess had half-expected him to be irritated that she was doing something sneaky. Either she still didn't understand him well at all, or he was a different person than the one who had first kidnapped her. "Well in that case I like your thinking. Why don't you take this instead, then?" He walked over and held out three throwing daggers. They were simple black blades that were small enough to be easily concealed and very light. When surprise and suspicion flashed across the princess's face, Vaati chuckled. "I don't mind giving these to you because these are completely useless against me. They do, however, work against everything else so you can defend yourself if I'm not there to take care of you. Here, try it." He waved his hand, indicating for her to stab him.

Zelda tentatively took one of the daggers and rolled it on her palm. It was a completely symmetrical dagger with cloth wrapped tightly along the grip. She tapped the metal blade, and she could feel the cold, solid touch. She glanced up at the sorcerer who was waiting, grinning, with arms wide. A part of her wanted nothing more than to stick the dagger right into his chest, but another part, conflicted, couldn't help but admit that she would feel a little bad about hurting another person like that.

A… person. Oh no. She just called Vaati a person.

The princess finally gripped the dagger tightly in her right hand, and slowly brought it up, pointing the blade directly at the sorcerer's chest. Vaati sensed her uncertainty, and he smirked. "I know you've thought about killing me more than once, dear. Don't be shy now."

"I-" Zelda began to retort, but then she stopped herself. This wasn't a conversation she felt like having right now. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest, tapping the dagger along the side of her arm. "Stabbing someone to see if something is safe is _not_ how we go about doing things!"

Vaati rolled his eyes. "Don't be so boring." He looked around the room until his eyes finally landed on a stalfos that had been strolling outside the door. It clattered its teeth nervously when Vaati waved it over. "You, I want you to stab me with this." The stalfos began to back away, holding up its skeletal hands in front of itself defensively, but Vaati would have none of it. He stomped over and unceremoniously shoved one of the daggers into its hands. "Just do it," he demanded.

The poor monster automatically looked at Zelda for help, but the princess could only return an uncertain frown of her own. It wasn't every day when a lowly minion was asked to attack its lord, and a scary one at that. Still, an order was an order, and the stalfos finally relented when the sorcerer began to tap his foot impatiently. With a powerful, reckless thrust, the stalfos plunged the blade right between Vaati's eyes.

"There, see? Harmless on me," the sorcerer gave a rather terrifying grin as the blade went through his forehead. At the same time, both Zelda and the unlucky stalfos winced at the dull thud when the boney fist made contact with Vaati's face as a fairly decent hit. Vaati's grin snapped into something creepily lopsided. His hand shot up to the fist on his forehead, wrenched the dagger out of the monster's fingers, and then violently slashed across its neck in one sudden movement. The stalfos crumpled to the floor as a pile of bones and its skull rolled away sadly. "Harmful for everything else," Vaati concluded. Then, he snarled angrily and spat after the skull that had rolled away. "Seriously? _!_ You stab me in the face of all places?"

Zelda was looking down at the dagger in her hands again, while Vaati continued to grumble about the fact that the monster had dared to hit him in the face. She was surprised that Vaati went out of his way to give her something better to defend herself with, and she certainly felt safer with actual daggers (three of them) instead of just one piece of broken glass. And she could definitely use these: she was trained in using throwing daggers because of Impa's guidance. She glanced at the sorcerer who was now kicking away the bone pile with his foot. Should she even thank this thankless bastard? At the same time, it wouldn't make her right to refuse to acknowledge the fact that this was a nice gesture. It was kind of like training a puppy, wasn't it? Reward good behaviors, punish bad ones. Except this puppy wasn't all that cute and he made her feel things she wasn't used to; mostly pure frustration and unchecked rage. Din, if she ever went back to Hyrule everyone might be surprised by how temperamental she'd gotten. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Vaati paused in the middle of shoving the bones away with his foot, and his ears pricked up at the sound of her voice. A faint smile hovered at the corner of his lips, and for a moment it looked like he was going to tease her about it, but he kept his silence. Instead, he passed back the rest of the daggers and then held out his hand with a grin that was disarmingly charming. "Ready?"

Zelda slipped the daggers onto the hidden belt, took a deep breath, and tried her best to shake off the nerves. She felt much safer now that she was armed, and a tension she hadn't realized she'd been keeping finally lifted off of her chest. However, that wasn't to say she was relaxed, because she wasn't. The princess looked past the sorcerer briefly, out towards the cerulean sky: would she be able to stand her ground against the last of the monster groups, the lizalfos? The stories she'd heard painted them as ferocious, savage beasts armored in tough scales and armed with bone crushing teeth. What if this was the one meeting where she finally lost her composure? What if they ended up in a situation where she would actually have to fight? Doesn't the fact that Vaati gave her daggers suggest that the possibility was very real this time? Back home she was always confident she could negotiate reasonably with the neighboring countries and various organizations within her kingdom, but the poe had broken her confidence in dealing with monsters. She didn't know what to expect.

"Hey."

Vaati's voice startled her out of her thoughts, and her blue eyes were wide, almost like a doll's. Vaati blinked, and then he returned an equally startled look that slowly transformed into a questioning one.

"You're always unreasonably mad after we do this. You're not going to be mad after this, are you?"

For the first time in a long time, Zelda actually giggled. It was kind of funny that he was worried about getting her mad now. "I might," she replied, to which Vaati scowled unhappily. She was smiling, cautiously, though, like she couldn't trust herself to look happy around the sorcerer who had kidnapped her, and slowly lifted her hands. The monsters made her nervous, and the uncertainty of what she was going to face also scared her, but there was one thing she could begin to trust the untrustworthy wind mage on:

Vaati wouldn't let anything hurt her.

Zelda tentatively placed her hand on his arm. "Ready."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They arrived above a forest at the base of a rocky mountain. The trees were thick, and Vaati had to transform back to his smaller Hylian form to fit through the branches and reach the ground. Even though the noon sun shone brightly in the sky, the trees blocked most of the light. Zelda stood closely next to Vaati, cautiously looking around through the tree trunks and letting her eyes adjust to the dim forest. She could find no sign of any sort of camp or the lizalfos themselves, except for the eerie feeling that she was being watched. She jumped a little when there was a small tug on her arm from Vaati walking away. The sorcerer whipped his cape behind him, irked, as it caught some brambles on his way over to a campfire that had smoldered to ashes.

"The lizalfos should be around here," Vaati squinted, picking up some of the ash between his fingers, "but where are they?" He'd specifically scouted them yesterday morning for campsites with his sentries because they were tricky creatures, but he thought he'd see at least one by now especially since he'd already informed them he was coming.

Zelda's fingers absentmindedly dropped closer to where her daggers were strapped when she noticed that the sorcerer's shoulders were no longer relaxed. He was bent over the burnt out campsite with the posture of an alert predator. It didn't take a whole lot to understand that there was something wrong with the situation, and that made Zelda nervous. She slowly positioned herself so that her back was against a thick tree trunk, preventing someone from sneaking up from behind her.

She remembered what Vaati had told her about the lizalfos earlier in the day.

_They're the most troublesome to deal with because they don't speak Hylian. They understand it though, I think, and they're not completely stupid. They're also quite agile and they'll sneak up on you without you noticing if you're not careful, so be mindful of that._

Vaati had summoned a few sentries now, and Zelda slowly crouched down, her head turning left and right cautiously. She had a really bad feeling about this, and the fact that Vaati was beginning to take some extra precautions didn't help alleviate her worry. The woods, the burnt out campfire, everything was too quiet. Like it was waiting for an opportunity to strike out at once.

"Vaati," Zelda began, but she stopped talking immediately when the sorcerer turned around and brought a finger to his lips.

"I know," he said quietly, his eyes darting side to side. "We're being watched."

Zelda shifted her weight on her right foot. As her heel moved across the dirt, it snapped a dry twig with a loud 'crack.' And then, she screamed.

"Princess _?_!" Vaati shouted, whirling around to the tree where Zelda had been standing.

She was gone.

"Princess!"

Zelda could hear Vaati's yells grow fainter as she was swiftly carried away, slung across the back of a scaly creature. Some dead leaves and dirt still clung to her hair from where she had been yanked down underground through a hidden tunnel next to the tree she had been standing against, and her head occasionally bumped against the roots hanging down from the low-ceilinged pass.

She couldn't see the monster from her angle and the dim light, but she guessed that it was none other than one of the lizalfos they had been looking for earlier, judging from the scales that rubbed against her skin and the powerful lizard-like claws that clasped down her arms. She wasn't going to be able to wriggle free, but if she could just summon a hurricane towards her…

_Vaati, prove that I can trust you. Help me._

Zelda took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could, hoping that somehow Vaati might be able to hear her and pin down her location. The monster was one step ahead of her; they really could be clever in the sense of having raw animalistic survival instincts. With lightning reflexes, it swung her over its shoulders and hit her sharply across the head, knocking her out before she could scream for longer than a second.

As her vision faded and the monster hurriedly propped her over its back again, she could only think of one thing. Her only hope was the sorcerer himself, and the only thing she could do was trust that he'd be able to find her. It was a frightening sort of trust, since the concept of believing that he would let nothing hurt her had, up until this point, been an untested concept. An untested hypothesis. Now that they were facing the reality of the situation of her actually being in danger, Zelda couldn't help but feel uneasy about where that trust had been placed…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A dull pain welcomed her when Zelda's eyes fluttered open, and she groaned. The lizalfos that had kidnapped her had left her on the ground after reaching the end of the tunnels, and was now waiting for someone. She tried to bring her hand up to rub the back of her head where the monster had hit her, but then she realized to her horror that her hands were bound tightly by ropes behind her. Her eyes snapped open, her cheek rubbing against the red rocks of a barren summit, the dust grating her soft skin. She was lying on the ground by the rocks that had been warmed up by the noonday sun, and it was difficult to determine where she was. Moreover, she didn't know how much time had passed since she'd first been captured. She guessed no less than an hour, since she could still see the forest where they had first arrived only a few miles away. The wind howled, almost as though it were calling for someone.

Several feet away, she noticed the lizard monster casually look over its shoulder, taking note that its prisoner was now awake, before it went back to looking at the sky patiently. It readjusted its light leather armor over its green scales as it had moved around while carrying Zelda around, and then it went back to peering out towards the vast empty sky with its reptilian yellow eyes. It was waiting for someone.

A heavy feeling sunk in her gut when she thought about what this all entailed. Why did the monsters kidnap her from Vaati, risking his wrath no less, and who was behind all of this? She thought she could answer the first question, and the answer didn't make her feel any more confident about her situation. The only reason why the monsters would risk angering someone like Vaati would be because another creature high along the monster hierarchy had ordered them to do it. She remembered the mention of "Masters" several times when she had visited the wizzrobe mansion, and the ones who were discontent with the sorcerer in recent times. It was probably one of them, and if it was, then according to the wizzrobes they didn't think very highly of her at all.

_I'm really in trouble now._

At least with Vaati, she knew she didn't have to worry too much about being murdered. Well of course there was always a possibility that he would snap one day and actually try to kill her since he was THE Vaati after all, but these days she didn't think that was a serious worry. There wasn't a concrete reason why she believed this – maybe it was what you'd call a gut instinct…

But with the Masters? That was a whole different story. From what she understood about them from rumors and gossip, they could care less if she was dead. Maybe some of them thought it would be better if she died so Vaati would stop fooling around with concepts they didn't understand, like marriage.

There was a sudden movement as the lizalfos tensed, the colorful orange spikes lining the back of its head fanning out. With a small hiss, it crouched low to the ground and slunked away quickly back into a crack in the ground where it disappeared back into the tunnels. Zelda tried to twist her head around to see what had prompted the monster to leave, and then she froze when she saw a tiny dot in the sky grow bigger and bigger, flying in from the west. It disappeared briefly as it circled around behind a mountain peak, and then she saw its silhouette clearly when it flew back into view.

It was a very large bird. A very, very large bird.

That wasn't the part that unnerved her the most, though, as it finally landed on the table top stones in front of her with a loud, dusty crash. Even though she'd been determined not to show fear so that the monsters wouldn't interpret it as weakness, she found that when she'd finally come face to face with this enormous bird she could not hide her sense of dread. If it had been any other monster, she might have been able to feign bravery, but because it was _this_ particular monster, she couldn't do it. Her fear showed.

The bird tilted its steel-helmed head, towering over fifteen feet high, and observed her quietly for a few moments with its bright yellow eyes. She could have sworn it had smirked belittlingly before it absentmindedly plucked a few loose feathers out of its wings.

Some of the feathers fluttered down and landed a few feet away from her.

They were the same exact feathers that Vaati had handed to her a while back; a deep royal purple mixed with a band of white and red.

"The Princess of Hyrule." It's voice rung softly, dangerously, through the air. It was a voice commanding power and respect, with an ever-present rattle of a bird-like screech. It spread its wings in an impressive display for a few seconds, and its bold gold and green tail feathers scattered light across the ground.

Zelda steeled her expression even though she was absolutely terrified. This was a Master indeed, and the very one that was causing Vaati a headache with its request. The fact that it was talking to her, not Vaati, was not a good sign. Gathering her strength, she tried her best to mirror its demeanor. "The Helmaroc King," she returned similarly.

 _I can't look scared. I can't look scared. I can't look scared,_ she repeated over and over to herself.

The Helmaroc King blinked, and then somehow managed to grin with his beak, a flicker of surprise, impressed by her bravado, flashing across his face. He swung his head down until Zelda could almost touch his beak with her nose. "I've caused him enough trouble that he's mentioned me to you, have I?" he cooed mockingly.

Zelda kept her silence, not wanting to say anything that might be considered "wrong" in the monster-manner-rulebook. This monster was unlike any of the other monsters she'd encountered thus far. He was cunning, a servant to none, and could pin anyone down in an uncomfortable corner with one wrong move. She still didn't know why the Helmaroc King was here, and why she'd been painted as a target unexpectedly. Even Vaati hadn't seemed aware of this sudden blind side. Or… maybe it wasn't a blind side at all – just the Helmaroc King being the Helmaroc King. But wouldn't Vaati have known better if that was the case?

"You're a problem, that's what you are," the regal bird continued. "Contrary to what he may believe, you're going to be his weakness, not his strength. Look at what happened today. He couldn't even stop mere lizalfos, _lizalfos,_ " the Helmaroc King spat with some kind of disgust, "from stealing his prize right in front of his eyes."

The Helmaroc King brought its great talons forward and pressed them down against the helpless princess on the ground. He didn't crush her with his weight, but the message was extremely clear: she wasn't going to live for much longer.

"I warned him before, but he wouldn't listen. One cannot keep Light so close without having it diminish the Dark. He's become careless where he needs to be brutal. If you knew him, you'd know how far he's come to be a true Lord among us, but you threaten to take everything he's worked for away from him," the Helmaroc King sounded angry now. Zelda might have wondered what the great bird meant with its cryptic remarks if she wasn't being crushed against the stone by a deadly giant claw. She wanted to scream to let Vaati know where she was, but she had trouble breathing under the increasing weight pressing against her back.

Just when she was sure the Helmaroc King would step down on her with his entire weight, she was abruptly plucked up into the sky, her breath knocked out from her.

For a moment, she smiled when she imagined that Vaati had somehow found her and had whisked her away into the sky with his shadowy claws. Then, she noticed the dull pain against her sides as the thick talons dug into her ribs. It wasn't Vaati taking her to the sky. It was the Helmaroc King stealing her away, probably to kill her somewhere further away where the sorcerer would have trouble finding her.

_I never noticed how gently Vaati always carried me in the sky until now…_

She wanted to scream towards the forest where she was sure the sorcerer was looking for her, but the wind screamed louder around her, stealing her voice away. Unprotected by Vaati's wind magic, the wind ripped all around her and through the bird's talons, snapping her hair against her face and forcing her eyes closed. Eventually, the forest disappeared into a thin blurry line against the small bump in the horizon of the mountain they had been on.

Until now, she would have been hard pressed to admit that she would be happy to see the sorcerer. Then again, until now, she'd never really thought about the possibility that Vaati had been waging a battle behind her back against very powerful creatures to keep her safe. Even though it was only for his selfish reasons, it ruined her idea of him as being someone who was out to hurt her.

_Your eyes said, 'Trust me," so let me trust you before it's too late._


	16. Dare

The Helmaroc King finally set Zelda down near the peak of another mountain. She wasn't sure if she was still in Hyrule anymore, as she was surrounded by many jagged mountains all around her with a wide, untamed forest spanning on the ground far below. Maybe the Helmaroc King had flown her clear over the Death Mountain mountain range into the uncharted lands beyond Hyrule, which remained largely unexplored due to its dangerous terrain. Zelda twisted and squirmed on the ground so that she could at least sit upright to face the monster instead of lying stupidly on her stomach like a caught fish. Once she'd sat up, she saw that they had an audience: a group of kargarocs, smaller birds a little taller than the average person and a similar coloration as the Helmaroc King watched from a distance. While she was assessing her situation, the Helmaroc King cleared his throat.

"The more I look at you, the less impressed I am. What does he see in you, I wonder?"

Zelda turned her chin up towards the towering bird. She said nothing, but she wasn't going to sit around idly while the Helmaroc King decided how he was going to kill her. Ignoring her bruises, the tangled hair that was all over her face, and the exhaustion from being whipped around by the wind during her flight, she slowly began scheming for a way out of this mess.

"I doubt you can even hold your own against a moblin. Pah! And he expects me to bow to you?"

Zelda knew a dare when she heard one. She was mildly surprised that the Helmaroc King hadn't simply tossed her off a cliff already, but at the same time, she wasn't _that_ surprised. It all made sense now when she thought about how monsters thought about things; the pointless monologues and delaying the time to go in for the kill, it all made sense why they would even waste time doing that. It was all one big dare. They were daring her to stop them. The Helmaroc King had, at least, acknowledged that someone he (maybe) respected favored her, and was now daring her to prove her worth. He didn't expect her to take it, of course, or thought she had it in her to take it, but a faint glimmer of hope welled up when she recognized that she still, despite it all, had a choice.

She should have been terrified. She should have been screaming for mercy or thinking of her final moments. She should have been all of these, but when she understood what the dare meant, when she understood what it really meant to talk like a monster, the fear was gone. Her heart was still beating quickly and beads of sweat were gathering on the tip of her nose, but it wasn't paralyzing fear. Maybe it was more like… excited fear? Was that even a thing? It was the kind of fear that spurred people to action against impossible odds.

Maybe that's what they called Courage.

Or stupidity.

 _Just a few more months and I'm going to turn into a monster myself!_ She giggled to herself, causing the Helmaroc King to narrow its eyes momentarily. That glimmer of hope in her chest grew brighter when she began to realize that maybe, just maybe, she had what it took to talk, _really_ talk, with monsters. Like… well… like Vaati could. "Whatever happened to the deal, Helmaroc King?"

Maybe it was the way Zelda's demeanor changed completely from when she'd first encountered the Helmaroc King, but the great bird's feathers momentarily fluffed up, taken aback by the sudden question. "What deal?"

The princess twisted her bound wrists somewhere near her right thigh where the daggers were strapped. She pressed her fingers down against the cloth of her dress, feeling for the edges. "The one where you promised Vaati your loyalty if he could win over the three independent monster races."

The bird harrumphed when he realized what she was talking about. "Hmph. The deal was off as soon as the lizalfos listened to me without question to go against Vaati's wishes and kidnap you. That is how little influence he has on them now. They would _never_ have done that if he was still as great as he once was, and it only confirms my suspicions that there are others more suitable to take his place."

"Others… like yourself?" Zelda hooked the ropes around her wrist against the edge of a blade, and quickly slid them up against them while applying pressure. The ropes weren't cut, but she managed to make a tear through her dress, exposing the blade.

The Helmaroc King didn't seem to notice what Zelda was doing with her binds, and chuckled in harsh clucks. "It's no news to him that I've always contested for his spot as the king of the skies."

"It's not a very fair deal if you're moving the pieces before he can prove himself."

"Fairness does not matter. Nothing matters once there is a victor because he is the only one left standing," Helmaroc snapped. The bird spread his great wings imposingly, casting a long shadow over her. There was a menacing glint in his eyes, suggesting that the princess's time was short. "A weak thing like you wouldn't understand."

By this time, Zelda had slid the rope around her wrist against the dagger blades, cutting the binds free. The rope dropped to the ground and she shook her hands, circling them around a few times to remove the soreness. The Helmaroc King watched in surprise as she snatched one of the daggers from their straps and then proceeded to quickly slash away and mangle a good portion of her dress until her legs had more freedom to move and the daggers around her thigh were exposed. She kicked away the discarded fabric in a rough manner. "You assume that I am weak, that my _kingdom_ is weak, because we don't understand the rules you play by." Zelda stood up, her knees slightly bent in a ready crouch and her expression defiant. She should have been terrified, but her fingers around the daggers didn't betray even a tremor. Maybe it was all of the adrenaline, or maybe it was the fact that she'd finally managed to understand that this was just another type of political discourse, she felt she was grounded in familiar territory. She knew the rules the Helmaroc King followed, and she had the background to handle it. She just had to believe in what Impa had taught her. She just had to believe in herself.

Had to, because Vaati wasn't going to save her. No one was going to save her.

"I understand the rules now. I also understand that there are few ways other than to follow your rules while I'm in the monsters' domain." The princess took a deep breath. Her next words that remained hesitant at the tip of her tongue made her feel the most uncomfortable because it was so out of character. But at the same time, it was completely in character because she'd already tapped into this particular personality before, back at the moblin camp, back at that _kiss_. That dark, powerful personality she'd pulled from her heart that had later reduced her to tears… she never wanted to face that side of her again. But this time, it didn't feel… wrong. That dark side of her was nothing more than a translator who could speak the same language the Helmaroc King did.

"I'll show you I am worthy in every way to be your ruler. Your queen. You will regret the fact that you ever dared to challenge me."

The Helmaroc King had folded his wings a little, listening to her in wide-eyed curiosity. He looked down at the smaller girl, with her red hair tangled and whipped across her face and her dainty purple dress torn up in savagely. Her eyes, though. By the dark kings, _her eyes_. He could have been fooled if someone told him they were the eyes of Vaati himself, with that cold cruel determination of someone who should not be messed with. The princess of Hyrule had learned a few tricks during her time with the wind mage, it seemed.

The Helmaroc King smiled to himself, musing quietly, "Hmm, a little melodramatic, aren't we?"

Zelda stiffened, but said nothing. The great bird gave a low thrum in his throat, his eyes taking on a wicked glint behind the steel helm before he took to the skies.

"Now you're talking my language," he hissed.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Vaati stared at the empty space where the princess used to be, paralyzed for a full three seconds from not comprehending the situation. She was… gone? She was gone. Gone. The words didn't register: this wasn't something that was supposed to happen. This wasn't something that was supposed to happen to _him_.

"Princess!" He shouted, trying not to panic. Panicking wasn't like him. But then again, he couldn't think straight, and the only way he could describe how his mind was an incoherent jumbled mess was that he was actually panicking.

His ears caught the faintest hint of a muffled scream that was quickly moving farther away from him, and the thoughts in his head that were running amok stopped abruptly to focus. His previously wide, stricken eyes narrowed to slits, the red of his pupils almost glowing in the dark. He stopped his shouting for the princess, and crouched low to his knees, sending out dozens of sentries to scout the forest while his ears strained for another hint. Shouting wasn't going to get him anywhere, aside from letting the kidnappers know where they should avoid. He needed to stay calm, collected.

The sorcerer's lips were pulled back in a snarl, and he lay crouched by the ground as he waited for any one of his sentries to find some kind of suspicious movement. His hands dug into the dirt like claws as his initial shock gradually transformed into blood boiling rage. They wanted to play hide and seek so be it – they were going to regret ever turning him into the hunter. _If they lay so much as a finger on her I swear…_

 _No, I'll make them pay anyway. How dare they defy me. How dare they mock me?_!

His nails dug further into the ground angrily. He knew that some of the monsters were a little wary of him these days, but he never would have expected such blatant disrespect that they'd dare to kidnap _his_ princess. He was going to let them have it. Ohhh yes he was going to let them have it. The princess might be a little discouraged by his methods of punishment and she might even get angry at him for it, but whatever.

She was always mad with whatever he did anyway.

… But where was the princess anyway? Vaati's furious train of thoughts slowed as they came back to reality from thinking of all the ways he was going to brutally punish whoever was responsible. It must have been at least three minutes by now since he'd first heard the scream, and his agile sentries had found nothing so far. A bit of suspicion began to creep into his head when he began to realize that too much time had passed without any sign of, well, pretty much _anything_. The sentries should have found something by now to help lead him to the kidnappers, but all they reported was the sea of trees and the disquieting silence. The faint screams of the princess had all but stopped; she was probably unconscious or they had gagged her.

Where? Where were they? The more time passed the less likely he was going to find Zelda again. He should have kept a sentry on her so he'd be able to track her movements, but he hadn't expected anyone to kidnap her when he was _right there with her_. He'd been positive that it would be fairly easy to find her with the help of his sentries flying all around the forest, but with every passing second without any leads he became increasingly aware that there was a very real chance that he might not find her in time.

Uncertainty. Fear. These feelings he wasn't used to tugged at his chest, and for a second his breath hitched as that ugly thought, "what if I don't find her in time," consumed his mind.

"AAAaaaghhh!" The sorcerer screamed in frustration, and he abruptly clenched his fists, causing a dark aura to flare up around them. Wind exploded in a violent whirlwind around him, knocking down saplings and sending broken branches circling up into the sky. Just as suddenly as it had come, the wind came to a halt, leaving behind it a stifling calm. Vaati's ears pricked, his hands no longer glowing. His muscles, however, were still tense like a coiled spring.

Vaati held his breath, and he cut off all communication with his sentries except for one. One of them had found something. It seemed like his scream had startled a creature that had been hiding further away from him. The sentry hadn't been able to catch much, except for a blur of a shadow, but it saw enough to see the creature scurry into a tunnel dug into the ground.

And that's when it hit Vaati like a Goron dropping a boulder on him. He'd sent the sentries to look for the kidnappers everywhere but _down_. They'd taken her underground. He'd wasted so much time… she could be anywhere by now.

With a sharp hiss of breath, Vaati teleported to where his sentry was now and stared at the ground below him with such intensity that it might have burst to flames just from the glare alone. Then, with a sharp movement of his hands, he sent a powerful blast that pounded down on the ground, sending dirt and rocks flying every which way from the impact. There was a shrill cry and an agonized groan from part of a reptilian head stuck in the dirt, pinned down from the cave-in from the resulting explosion. It bat its eyes open in fright when Vaati floated over like a wraith in terrifying silence. The lizalfos struggled to scramble away from the dirt but it was much too slow; Vaati yanked it into the air with a twitch of his fingers, and it helplessly hung suspended in front of the sorcerer's face.

"Where is she?" he whispered.

The monster tried to wiggle free from the invisible hold, hissing and spitting something furious.

Vaati's eyes flashed with a gleam that was bordering on insane. He smiled venomously for a brief second, and then it instantly turned into a savage snarl. " _Where is she?_!" He screamed.

The lizalfos froze and stopped struggling, its claws hanging limp at its sides. Its yellow eyes were wide like saucers on its scaly face, and it blinked slowly before it turned its head slightly towards one of the bushes behind the sorcerer. The corner of Vaati's mouth twitched when a sentry alerted him that there was another lizalfos watching them closely, and giving a small shake of the head to the monster that was still trapped in Vaati's grasp. The captured lizard muttered a few incomprehensible words: "words" was the only way Vaati could describe the foreign clicks and growls that sounded like a language, but one that wasn't Hylian.

Vaati didn't care, however, whether or not he could understand the lizalfos. He knew from that headshake from the lizard behind him that these foolish creatures weren't going to tell him what he wanted to know.

A small gust spread outwards from the sorcerer, and then the air turned still. Not even the leaves rustled, and the atmosphere was instantly stifling.

"Ha… hahahaha," Vaati's voice cracked and madness was thick with each laugh, "hahahahAHAHAHA! Aaaaaahahahaha!" Dark shadows pooled around the sorcerer's feet until they completely engulfed him, and then, like a whip cracking through the air, a powerful, explosive wind slammed against the trees around him. Trees snapped and blew up into splinters as the wind wreaked havoc, and the two unfortunate lizalfos were crushed beneath the trunk of an ancient tree that was thrown violently towards them. From within the darkness, a single bloodthirsty demon eye peered out into the world with all the ferocity and rage of a tornado.

" _Hahahaha… I should have done this from the start. Deal? Deal? They told me I couldn't kill them all because of a deal with the Helmaroc King."_ The eye looked around at its surroundings in a way that wasn't quite sane. _"I'm going to kill them all. I'm going to KILL them all. I'll kill the Helmaroc King too if he has a problem with me, because I swear I am going to KILL THEM ALL."_ Dozens of small sentry eyes swirled around the demon eye, and then they shot out into the ground, deep into the tunnels the lizalfos had dug. He wasn't going to leave a single one of them alive. " _I'll destroy every last one of them who took you from me,"_ Vaati's voice rumbled ominously through the woods, repeating words he'd promised to the princess once before, " _may the goddesses have mercy on anyone who dares try to steal you away from me, because I have no mercy left."_


	17. Lady of the Sky

The kargarocs that had gathered around the battle field had all but scattered, leaving behind only the Helmaroc King and the princess.

Nothing could have prepared Zelda for the fight she had picked with the Helmaroc King, and literally the only thing she had was her own tiny courage with a dash of stupidity that was keeping her from falling apart into panic. Her training with Impa was helpful, but only in the sense that she knew what to do against _Hylian_ assailants, or at least bipedal monsters that had a somewhat humanoid form. Honestly, not many people in Hyrule knew what to do against a monster attack, and in times of peace the monsters usually left them well alone except for the few rare cases in the outskirts of the kingdom where the villagers were far from militia help. Monsters had not been an issue or a common sight in the past several centuries, and the only times when large scale attacks were a problem were during crises, when the monsters had someone to rally behind. Like… Vaati. Whose sudden appearance, she added to herself, was mostly to blame for the monsters stirring from their complacency and itching for a fight. Therefore, hardly anyone ever received any training to defend themselves against moblins, much less the extremely powerful Masters like the Helmaroc King.

In fact, until she'd seen Vaati's demon form herself, she'd never in her wildest dreams would have believed that such titans still existed. To think that there were several of these powerful creatures hiding in the darkest corners of Hyrule… now that was a frightening thought. She was thankful that they'd never attacked the kingdom directly before Vaati's reappearance, because several of these things united under one voice was a force that would be difficult, if not impossible, to stop.

So, back on topic, she had no idea how to actually fight against something like the Helmaroc King. She wasn't even a seasoned fighter with tons of battle practice, since she'd only ever fought mock battles where no one was actually out for blood. Hyrule was a peaceful kingdom that had strived in peaceful times, and while peace was nice, they were woefully underprepared to fight against the battle-hardened monsters who regularly fought duels in place of conversation.

Sure she'd argued against the bird that Hyrule wasn't as weak as it claimed it was, and that she had the backbone to keep the monsters in check, but was that actually true? She believed with all her heart that her people deserved to live, but in a monster world where only brute strength spoke truth then maybe it was just as well (maybe not exactly right, but at the same time not exactly _wrong_ ) that the monsters thought they deserved to die. Who was she to say that she could lord over such titans? What did she have that could defeat the Helmaroc King?

_Reflex. Instinct. Kill or be killed._

The princess crouched, the daggers held tightly in her sweaty palms, as she watched the great bird circle towards her in the distance. Impa once told her that her greatest weapon was the fact that she didn't look dangerous, so her attackers would underestimate her. Judging from the way the great bird was aiming towards her with a glint in its eyes like it was going in for an immediate kill, she wasn't sure if that tip applied here. _Din,_ she cursed under her breath, _none of my training applies in this situation._

Her pulse quickened. Her heart raced. There was nothing that could be more raw about this fight. It wasn't like the witty or gentlemanly fights she'd seen at the knights' academy, full of class and poise. Her kingdom depended on this fight. Her _life_ depended on this fight. Of course her training wouldn't matter: training never brought out the bloodthirsty necessity of a fight this pure. _Reflex. Instinct. Kill or be killed._ There was no more room for delicacy here.

With those thoughts, something in her mind clicked and the fingers that had been nervously gripping the daggers relaxed. Her expression became cool, and when the bird dove in for its first pass, talons outstretched and its beak opened wide in an ear-splitting shriek, she didn't throw her weapons haphazardly at the creature in self-defense.

"Farore's Wind!"

In an instant she disappeared, the bird charging through the empty space where the princess had once been. Green light glittered several feet up in the air and Zelda materialized, and she took calmly held out one hand in front of her face as she started falling back to the ground. She aimed at the silhouette of the bird that had flown past her. "Farore's Wind," she repeated.

" _SCREEEEE!"_ The Helmaroc King gave an ear splitting screech when he realized that someone was now sitting on his back.

Zelda gripped the feathers lining the bird's neck with her left hand and raised a dagger over her head in her right.

Well… that was what she'd meant to do, but with a sharp intake of breath she snatched her left hand back as it was sliced across by the blade-like feathers, sharp as knives. The movement threw her off balance and she found herself thrown off the bird's back and falling back to the ground. She quickly warped back to safety on solid ground, and then took a brief moment to catch her breath and look at her stinging hands. Thin red lines across her palm grew thicker, painting her white gloves red, as the blood began to seep through. They were nothing more than severe paper cuts right now, and she was glad she hadn't grabbed a hold of the bird with a tighter grip. She also looked down at the dagger in her right hand: there was no sign of blood on the blade, even though she'd tried to at least stab the bird before she'd fallen.

 _Those feathers are like armor! I'm sure they weren't like that before: can the Helmaroc actually change how tough his feathers are at will?_ She thought grimly. Well, it certainly wasn't _just_ an oversized bird. _What am I supposed to do against something like that?_

"No!" She cried suddenly, realizing she'd spent too much time thinking. The Helmaroc King had already circled back around, and with a scream of fury it flapped its powerful wings, sending a storm of razor sharp feathers raining down on where she stood. The princess threw up her hands in defense. "Nayr- AH! N-Nayru's Love!" She shouted, wincing when one of the feathers struck her in the shoulder when she couldn't put up her magical shield in time. The rest of the feathers ricocheted off of the protective barrier, and she rolled away in time when Helmaroc himself came crashing down on her with his full weight.

"Din's Fire!" Zelda's right hand shot out, conjuring a blast of fire right at the bird's face just as it swung its helmed head towards her. It screamed angrily, shaking its head clear of the flames while Zelda scrambled back onto her feet. The princess tripped over a stone, and she threw one of the daggers over her head in defense, when the furious bird snapped its beak after her, threatening to gut her. In a move of desperation, she conjured another smaller fire right between its eyes, disorienting it with the flash, and then plunged the dagger through the unprotected eye hole of the bird's mask. The Helmaroc King shrieked angrily, throwing its head back and trying to get rid of the dagger that had blinded one eye, giving the princess some time to gain some distance. Gritting her teeth and doing her best not to tear up in pain, the princess yanked the feather out of her shoulder and threw it expertly at one of the lengthy wing feathers that was dragging close to the ground. It pierced through it, and pinned the tip of the wing down into the ground. Getting an idea, she took two more of the daggers that Vaati had given her and she threw them into the edges of Helmaroc's wing, further sticking it into the ground like a butterfly with its wings pinned in a collector's box. She knew it wasn't going to keep the powerful bird down for long, but it gave her enough time to warp farther away until she was out of sight around the corner of the mountain.

She fell back against the shade of a boulder. Her bleeding fingers shook against her legs as they hovered over where her daggers had been. She had none left. When Vaati had given her three to defend herself with, he probably hadn't imagined that she would be using them to fight against the Helmaroc King. Maybe she could give him a hard time about not getting her something really powerful to fight with, like a really big hammer. Three tiny daggers weren't going to help much against a giant murder-bird, even though they'd helped her escape her binds.

A water droplet hit her cheek and rolled down her face. The rainclouds had rolled in suddenly without her noticing. It had been such a clear day earlier, what was going on? It was almost as though the goddesses had arranged for a scene that was only fitting for a terrible battle. Lighting cracked, and in the far distance it almost looked like a tornado was running loose. _Yup, today is a fantastic day,_ she snorted bitterly as the rain really started coming down on her. _Wouldn't someone fetch me an umbrella?_ she added sarcastically to herself.

She could hear the Helmaroc King screaming in rage at the air, muffled somewhat by the pattering of rain against the dry rocks. He must have freed his wing by now. It wouldn't take long for him to find her eventually. Here she was, battered and bruised, and the monster bird was nowhere near close to giving up. She looked back down at her red stained hands thoughtfully, paying no mind to the screaming that was steadily coming closer to where she was hiding. She remembered one of the last lessons Impa had given her, passed down by the late queen. It was a holy spell that she was never to use except in absolute emergencies, as it was so powerful it wouldn't simply kill a man, but curse him forever so that the goddesses wouldn't welcome him through the golden gates after death.

At least, that was how the saying went. She wasn't sure if the spell would actually curse anyone, but no one ever came back from the dead to tell anyone what the afterlife was like. Regardless, this spell that was passed down through generations of Hylian queens was so powerful that it was never to be used frivolously.

This was exactly the kind of situation which the spell should be used.

"May the goddesses grant me the wisdom to see, the power to wield, and the courage to believe," she whispered softly. Her palms began to glow, and she staggered back onto her feet. A small circle of light appeared between her hands, until it materialized into a shimmering bow made of light. She brought it in front of her, and then made a motion with her hand to pull back on the string, and immediately an equally blinding arrow was knocked into position. She aimed calmly at the shadow of the bird that was quickly approaching her from a distance. The light radiating from the bow had caught the Helmaroc King's attention: she couldn't hide any longer.

The rain poured down her skin, washing away the blood and dirt from her skin. The raindrops shimmered as the bow gleamed a white, holy light that continued to grow brighter with each passing second. Zelda ignored the trembling of her arms, too sore and too weak to continue pulling the magical string back. She also ignored the fact that at this rate, the Helmaroc King was going to run her over to her death in just a few more seconds.

" _DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_ The Helmaroc King shrieked.

Zelda could see every detail as the bird approached. She could see the raindrops slide off the dark silver metal of the helm, and the faint scratches along the beak from fights from long ago. She could see the flicker of uncertainty light up in the remaining golden eye as the Helmaroc King finally saw what she was going to do.

With only a few feet left between them, the princess let go of the string and the holy arrow charged straight towards its target.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been a storm of ripping winds, fire, and rain; the rage of the sky itself. Where once there was a forest there was a crater of destruction. Mangled trees and broken splinters stuck out of the dirt, the once green landscape now a flattened hue of browns and charred, burnt black. Smoke and dust had long since settled, but only fifteen minutes ago the air had been thick with the gray of ash. Bits of stone were scattered about amongst the dying flames, and upon closer inspection it could be determined that some of the broken stone had been from grotesque statues of lizard-like creatures, their expressions one of horror and despair. At the same time, most of these stones were broken and shattered, as though someone had made it a point to destroy every one. The rain still pattered softly against the pools of shallow puddles from the earlier storm, and the water was black from the ash.

In the middle of the vast expanse of carnage there sat a lonely figure. He sat quietly on top of a rock, blood splatters beginning to dry around the fabric of his face and clothes. Vaati had transformed back into his Hylian form, having calmed down a little after his rampage. Well, "calm" may not have been the best way to describe his current mood. If emptiness was a mood, that's what he was. Emptiness. Dazed. Vaati's ears twitched when the harsh caws of the crows rang loudly through the air; the carrion birds had gathered to pick off the dead.

Yes, the dead. There were the dead this time, and not the shattered remains of the ones turned to stone. Vaati absentmindedly picked away at blood that had caked over the edge of his cape, while he looked on at some of the lifeless bodies of the lizalfos he had killed. Some of his unlucky victims… well, let's just say he took some extra time to make sure they understood just how angry he could be. He hadn't gone on a murderous rampage like this in a long time, one where he was completely blinded by rage and where not all of the deaths were quick and painless. There was pain. Ohhh yes there was pain. He'd made sure to it. He'd made sure they understood how much pain, anger, and frustration he'd felt from being insulted so. The demon eye was feared for a reason.

Vaati frowned, shooing away a crow that had hopped too close to him. When all was said and done, after all of the dust had settled and the birds had come to clean up his mess…

It didn't feel good.

Yeah. That's right. It actually didn't feel good. He'd never really been too fond of causing bloody messes. The aftermath was kind of gross, and it was never as clean as hexing people to death. It didn't feel good, like it usually did when he was punishing his minions and abusing his power, but it didn't feel bad, either. Just… empty. An emptiness so vast and consuming that all he could do was stare at the ashes and the blood on his toes, and the blackened soot-colored rain drops rolling down his skin. It was almost worse than feeling bad.

It was over. Everything he'd worked for with the princess was now rendered meaningless, because the Helmaroc King wasn't going to stand for what he'd done with the lizalfos. In a fit of uncontrollable rage, he'd killed them all. They deserved it, as far as he was aware, but it also meant that the time he'd spent with the princess had been a waste of time.

_But it wasn't a waste of time…_

He shoved that thought away like it was a pestering fly. It had been a huge waste of time, currying favors from the princess so she'd cooperate, letting her get things her way, making sure she was feeling okay so that she could accompany him on their next recruitment run.

_But that had been kind of interesting?_

"What, exactly, is interesting about _this_?" Vaati spat, waving his hands towards the carnage and the conspicuously empty space next to him where the princess should have been standing. "She's still missing, and I don't know where to find her."

_Because you killed everyone who knew where she went, genius. Good job thinking that one through._

"They deserved it," he muttered, and as an afterthought he added, "Shut up." Vaati sighed, resting his chin on his hands while his sentries were busy scouring the area for signs of the princess. So far the only thing they reported back were scenes of the storm's aftermath. Nothing was alive nearby: he was thorough when it came to punishing those who angered him.

By now he'd managed to pick off the rest of the blood that was stuck on the corner of the cape he'd been fiddling with absentmindedly. It was still stained a rusty red against the deep purple of the cape, but the dried chunks were at least gone from that corner; a small corner of cleanliness amidst the rest of his clothes which was still splotched with the stuff. He was pretty sure Zelda was going to freak out if she saw him right now. Her righteous little heart wouldn't be able to handle all that red.

Suddenly, goose bumps rose along the skin of his arms, and his chin lifted abruptly towards the mountains far, far away. He'd sensed something reminiscent to the power of that damned sword, a divine power that overwhelmed him and made his nose crinkle. "Too bright," was the only way he could describe such a power, even though it wasn't something that anyone could actually "see" with eyes. It was a… feeling almost. A sixth sense only seasoned sorcerers could identify, and for him it was a repulsive aura that emanated from those mountain ranges. It had to be extremely powerful if he could feel it all the way out here.

Vaati gritted his teeth, and he immediately stood up from where he'd been brooding, taking to the skies. There was only one person he knew of who could summon holy magic of that scale, and his speed quickened when he saw the hint of a golden flash glimmer as a speck in the distance.

Zelda was there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Helmaroc King groaned, his body in tatters and sprawled out onto the rocks. He blinked with his good eye, trying to see, but his vision was still blurry from the attack he'd suffered. He moved his neck a little, but then stopped and grimaced when he heard the creak of his helm and felt a few pieces crack off and tinkle onto the ground. He hadn't expected the frail little princess to be able to launch an attack with so much power that it would be able to splinter his helm in one hit.

There was a grating sound of something dragging itself across the ground before it stopped just by the bird's beak. Then, he saw the outline of a battered hand reaching out and pulling itself up against his face until they were resting their weight against him. His eye widened in surprise when he realized it was none other than the princess, barely holding herself together after being knocked down by his careening body after she'd shot him in the face with a holy arrow. Determination was etched into her brows as she held up a palm with charged light magic into the air.

"S-surrender," she gasped. She hardly looked like a princess anymore, with the light rain, dirt, and blood making her hair stick in messy clumps. Her tiara was completely lost somewhere, and she'd long since discarded most of her dress as a nuisance during the fight.

The Helmaroc King shifted his weight, chuckling in pained gasps as he worked to get his wings to listen to him. "Surrender? Ha. See, this is why you Hylians are unworthy. I would have gone for the kill if I'd been in your position." Dark kings damned it, why won't his body _move?_

Zelda's lips flattened, and she held up her hand even higher. "Do you think this is mercy, the fact that I will not strike you down?" she spoke softly.

"If it's not mercy then what is it? You don't have the stomach for finishing the job, and that is why I will win." The bird began to raise its head, trying to shake the princess off his beak, but the princess somehow managed to stop him. Her next words caught his attention.

"If you do not surrender, I will blind you in your remaining eye and you will never be able to fly the skies again. Mercy is not weakness. Did I not say earlier that I understand your rules now?"

The Helmaroc King dropped his head back down, and blinked. He watched the girl stare down at him with a deadly intensity, and he could feel the beginnings of a grin creep along the side of his beak. _Interesting._

"Mercy is not weakness," Zelda repeated, trying to keep her voice from shaking and forcing her legs to stay standing. "I can defeat you each time you challenge me. Each time you try to destroy me I'll come back stronger, and I'll prove that I am worthy of your respect: that Hyrule is worthy of your respect. I'm the rightful queen of Hyrule and a champion of the goddesses and I'm not… I'm not afraid of you!"

Now the bird outright chuckled, his shaking beak nearly throwing Zelda off balance. He could see all of the fear in her face and the uncertainty that stuck with every word in her declaration that she wasn't afraid, and if he wasn't this worn out he probably would have punished her for it. Still, all he could do was laugh. Here she was, in tatters and barely able to support her weight, in the face of a monster a seasoned soldier would have begged his life for, declaring that she would dare to fight him again and again if that's what it took to win him over. "Surrendering" wasn't something that ever occurred for him to do, but maybe he could make a special exception this time. "All right, I surrender Lady Zelda," he declared mid-chuckle. _I think I see why Lord Vaati has taken an interest in you._

The princess hesitated, and she took a tiny step back as though she had been expecting the bird to not listen to her. She stumbled when the bird finally hoisted itself onto its feet with great effort, and she would have fallen down to her knees if the Helmaroc King hadn't gently caught her fall with his beak to lean on. She looked up at him in disbelief at his sudden kindness.

"Ha. You've proven your worth and I'd been mistaken. That is enough for me," he explained in response to her bewildered expression. "Lord Vaati has a good eye."

"Then… but…" her knees buckled when all of the tension she'd been carrying dissipated, and Zelda let herself sit down on the ground. The charged sphere of magic vanished from her hands.

"You can tell Lord Vaati that he has my loyalty now. As do you, my Lady," the bird gave a generous bow, "I swear it on my life and honor."

Zelda blinked. It was… over? Just like that? She would have been suspicious at the Helmaroc King's simple declaration if it weren't for the fact that when it came down to it, monsters really _were_ much simpler than Hylians. The poe had been right – the conflicts between monsters were resolved much more quickly because it was all based on a simple rule of strength.

So… it really was over. Just like that. She had trouble letting herself believe it, though, even with the huge bird in front of her bowing down like she was its queen. The kargarocs that had flown away earlier were returning one by one, curious to see what had happened between the two of them.

 _No, you're wrong, you ARE the queen._ A voice in her head corrected. The Hylian ruler, and also the ruler of monsters? _Oh the things I let myself get involved in._

"I… really?" Zelda asked hesitantly. When the bird tilted its head questioningly, she clarified, "But what… what does it mean? What am I supposed to do?" She had trouble wrapping her head around the fact that just a few minutes ago they were trying to kill each other, and now they were talking about honor-bound loyalty.

The Helmaroc King almost burst out laughing. She was such a curious thing, with her weird questions. Hylians sure were a strange bunch. "What does what mean?"

"You don't hate me? I suddenly have your loyalty? I don't…" she waved her hands in confusion.

"Hate? Not hate," the bird began, but was interrupted by the princess.

"The weak deserve to be attacked," she finished, remembering with a sigh a similar conversation she'd had with the poe.

The Helmaroc King nodded slowly.

"And you surrendered to me, so you'll listen to… to whatever I say?" Zelda continued hesitantly. She was having trouble putting all of the implications of this together.

"You proved you were more than what we expected you to be. I will serve you with the same loyalty I give Lord Vaati himself." The response was unflinchingly honest.

"So that means," her voice was hoarse, soft and barely above a whisper now as she hung her head, staring at the ground still damp from rain, "that means I can go back to Hyrule…?" She didn't dare look up, but spoke firmly now, a little more loudly. "Will you take me to Hyrule castle?"

The bird bowed again, still weak from damage but proudly holding its honor as a loyal ally. "Of course, my Lady."

Zelda looked up at the monster now, her blue eyes wide as she stared at the bird still bowing respectfully towards her tattered form. There was no hesitation, no insincerity or sarcasm in the gesture, and she knew that what the Helmaroc King said, despite their earlier fight and his allegiance to Vaati, was true. If she asked him to take her back to the castle, he would with unwavering loyalty.

It was unbelievable.

"I can go back…" she whispered to herself. She could escape the Palace of Winds. She was free. Her purpose for accompanying Vaati for this last visit to the lizalfos was to find an opportunity to escape: she'd never expected the opportunity to present itself so soon.

She knew what she had to do. She had to go back. Her people needed her. Her place wasn't at the Palace of Winds, and certainly not with Vaati. She'd proven with this fight that she didn't need him to protect her from the monsters; she could hold her own, and more. Maybe she'd tricked herself earlier, thinking she needed to rely on him, thinking she needed to lean on him until she could figure out a way to run off on her own, but she'd never been more convinced that this was the moment she knew she had to take a stand and leave.

But if that was true, then why was it so hard to give that last order to the Helmaroc King to take her away from this place? The hesitation… it was there. She wanted to pretend it wasn't there but she couldn't deny it.

"Lord Vaati."

The Helmaroc King's voice snapped her back to attention, and her shoulders stiffened at the name. She slowly, fearfully, turned back to face the sorcerer who had arrived. He was a complete mess, just like her, with his clothes stained a brownish red and streaks of mud and blood smeared across his worried face. His expression surprised her when she finally noticed it; it was one of fear mixed with anger and relief. It was such an emotional expression that was different from his usual cool and calculated one that it took her completely by surprise.

Zelda couldn't move. She'd hesitated too long.


	18. Just Two Normal People

It was really her, that dirt-smeared girl with her hands hanging limp by her sides, her hair matted down to her cheek from the rain… she was a mess compared to how he'd last seen her but he could recognize those fierce blue eyes anywhere. She was sitting on the ground, her dress torn to rags and her knees bent under her like they'd given up trying to hold her weight. _Who did this to you?_ He was relieved beyond words that she was still alive, but it shook him to see her like this.

"Ah, Lord Vaati, I see you've taken care of the lizalfos situation. For good, I might add."

Vaati looked up for the first time towards the Helmaroc King just barely standing in front of the princess. The bird's helm was dented and cracked, and one of his eyes was damaged and bleeding. He looked back at Zelda who was slowly trying to drag herself onto her knees, and then towards the bird again. Vaati's eyes narrowed, and his fingers began to close themselves into fists. "Helmaroc King, you-" he began with a dangerous hiss.

The Helmaroc King bravely ignored Vaati's tone, wheezing with a rattling breath as he spoke, still not completely recovered from the fight. "It's fine. The deal is off, because this Lady –"

" _This is not fine, you wretched – "_

"Vaati."

The sorcerer was cut-off abruptly by a determined hand around his wrist. Zelda had limped towards him, and she gave his wrist a tight squeeze. Vaati lost his words, taken aback by the sudden touch, and even more so when he could finally get a better look at all of the damage the princess had taken. "Your shoulder," he began, reaching out gently at the deep stab wound on her left shoulder. His expression of worry quickly flashed back to rage, and he only stopped himself from beating the oversized cucco into a bloody pulp when the princess squeezed his wrist tighter. Her eyes met his, and he was about to push her out of the way but decided to settle for a grumbled, "Let go," when he faltered under that blue gaze.

"We settled things here. He is not your enemy."

It was a miracle Vaati didn't explode in anger. His hands were clenching and unclenching as though eager to pull Zelda's grip away from him. At this point, her hold was the only thing keeping him from losing himself in blind rage again. "No one," he seethed, "does that to you and gets away with it."

"He didn't 'get away with it,' Vaati, he suffered for his mistake and-"

" _He's still alive._ "

" _Listen to me!"_ Zelda shouted. She let go of his wrist and held his shoulders, but before long her injured shoulder hurt too much that she had to let go, curling over from the pain. She hadn't noticed it before because of all the adrenaline, but now that the numbing hormones had gone she could really feel the sharp throb. Between winces, she looked up again, and then relaxed somewhat when she saw that she'd finally gotten Vaati's attention. The sorcerer hurriedly sat her back down on the ground while gently supporting her weight, and he switched between watching over her protectively while throwing death glares towards the Helmaroc King. "Listen to me," Zelda repeated softly, and turned his face away from the bird and towards her, with a brush of her hand on his cheek. Startled by the touch, the sorcerer calmed down for a moment and listened obediently. "I don't want you to kill anyone anymore."

Her hand trailed down his cheek, towards his collar, and down to his chest where the blood stains from the dead lizalfos had stained his clothes the deepest shades of red. Still knelt down in front of the princess, Vaati was as frozen as one of his statues, and he didn't move until Zelda's expression slowly turned into one of pained sorrow. His breath hitched involuntarily when a wave of guilt stabbed him in the gut from such a pitiful expression. He wasn't really sure what it was that had caused such a look of anguish, but he almost felt obligated to apologize. But why? For what? Why did she always look at him like everything was his fault? Why was she looking at him now like she… like she pitied him? _!_ Stop that. Stop looking at me like that. I'm going to get rid of everyone who'll hurt you, so stop. Stop looking at me like that. Vaati opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't find his voice.

The silence lasted for another several seconds, during which Zelda seemed to understand what the sorcerer himself couldn't; she saw that he wouldn't raise his hand against the Helmaroc King. Her tense shoulders visibly relaxed in relief, and her hand slowly slipped away from his bloodstained clothes. "Thank you," she whispered.

 _For what?_ Vaati questioned in silent thought, though he continued to say nothing. He couldn't.

Without turning around, Zelda raised her voice, addressing the bird behind her. "Helmaroc King," she called as the monster slightly raised its head in acknowledgement. "You are free to excuse yourself."

"As you wish," the bird bowed respectfully, much to Vaati's surprise. The sorcerer's eyes widened and he glanced questioningly between the two of them for some hint on what had happened in his absence. That stubborn bird hardly ever listened to anyone. The Helmaroc King spread his wings and flapped them experimentally a few times, grimacing a little from the sting of pain. Finally, he took to the air with a couple of powerful gusts. "If the Lady still wishes to request my aide on that matter, whistle twice and I will heed your call," he mentioned, just before he disappeared into the sky. Vaati's lips pulled back to a growl when he thought he saw the monster bird wink knowingly at the princess, but Zelda indicated she knew nothing of what Helmaroc was talking about.

Now it was just the two of them, dirty and worn. The rain had since stopped after the storm had subsided, and the dark clouds had thinned to grey. Zelda looked down at her lap and gave a deep sigh, hanging her head heavily. She had trouble meeting the sorcerer in the eye, and she tried not to look at his blood-stained clothes. She wondered if the sorcerer knew what she'd been about to do, and how he'd react if she actually went through with it. She couldn't fly away now, with him right in front of her, but maybe when they returned to the Palace…? He couldn't even keep his promise not to let anything hurt her, and that had been the one thing, the _only_ thing, she'd been able to trust him on. At the end of the day he was a villain. He'd gotten better, but she didn't belong here.

Her head hurt from her thoughts and she was tired of everything. She didn't want to see him looking at her like that, like he suspected what she'd been about to do but didn't want to believe she'd actually thought that. She didn't want to look at that childlike expression of disbelief because it almost made her feel guilty about the whole thing. She wanted him to yell at her, demand that she explain what she'd been discussing with the Helmaroc King, twist her wrists until they hurt and threaten to hurt her just so it would be easier to hate him.

But… he didn't do any of those things. He looked like he had a lot of things he wanted to say, and yet he said nothing, waiting for her to say something first because he didn't want her to be upset. Zelda gritted her teeth. Why did he actually have to listen to her demands on how to be a better person? Why did he actually have to change and be someone who started trying to treat her with respect? Why couldn't he just treat her horribly right now so she could hurt him without feeling like she was a bad person?

Since when had things gotten so complicated?

She just wanted to go home, back to her friends and family, back to where she didn't have to worry about the trouble named Vaati. For once she wanted to forget about responsibility and not think about anything. _I just want to go home. I just want to-_

"Zelda…"

The princess stiffened, and she pulled back in surprise when Vaati slowly pulled her up on her knees and brought her close into a tight embrace. She started to push him away, but then gradually lowered her hands and let him hug her, his face buried against her neck. _That's the first time he's actually called me by my name._ Her troubled thoughts vanished, startled away by the gesture, and all she could think about was the sorcerer's arms holding her tightly as though he would never let go. It was an innocent hug, but one that was more intimate than a kiss, and her heart nearly broke when she could understand its message better than what words ever could: "please stay." Her hands that had before hung awkwardly at her sides, unsure about how appropriate it was for her to hug back, gently enveloped the sorcerer.

"You're upset again," Vaati murmured, "You said you wouldn't be unreasonably mad this time." Zelda couldn't help but crack a smile at his poor attempt to lighten the mood, imagining his snarky little grin on his face as he said the words.

"I said I might," she laughed weakly. "And I'm okay. Really." Her voice cracked ever so slightly, even though she tried to hide it. _You don't have to hold me like that._ There was moisture pooling around her eyes. Goddesses, was she actually going to start crying now? _Zelda, get yourself together! You don't even have anything to cry about!_ she scolded herself, but her face wouldn't listen to her demands. She had nothing to cry about, yet a tear rolled down her cheek, and she hoped Vaati wouldn't notice it. She'd look so stupid. She felt so stupid. Everything about this was stupid. _I don't need you to feel sorry for me._

_I'm fine._

_Let go of me._

_Let go of me._

_Let go of –_

"I was worried I'd lost you."

The words woke her from her thoughts, and her breath stopped for a few seconds, paralyzed. Then, she shoved the thoughts away entirely and she clung to his shoulders freely, her lips still pulled back in a grimace as she held back the tears that were starting to roll down her face. It had felt like forever since she'd had such a comforting kind of human contact, not one she had to flinch away from or defend herself against. For once she could let go and place her burdens on a shoulder other than her own, enjoying the warm touch that dispelled the taxing chill. She didn't care if she looked weak. She didn't care if he mocked her for it later. Here, now, she just wanted a few seconds where she didn't have to worry about appearances and feel protected by the arms wrapped around her. She wasn't in the arms of a monster, but a person.

_The poe said monsters aren't capable of caring about anyone._

_You're not really a monster, are you Vaati?_

Still holding her, Vaati appeared not to notice that the princess was holding back tears. "Are you ready to go back now?" he asked with surprising softness that was unlike his normally harsh demeanor. In fact, everything about him was uncharacteristically understanding and gentle.

Zelda's hands shook, and she gave a small nod. "Y-yes," she choked. Then, she buried her face against his chest with a wail. " _Nayru forgive me, yes,_ " she repeated with a withering cry. The princess finally broke down in sobs, her heart unable to take any more of the confusing mixture of anger, relief, guilt, and sadness.

Vaati said nothing, letting the princess cling to him until her sobs were nothing more than heavyhearted hiccups.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was evening by the time they made their way back to the Palace of Winds. The sun was peeking out from the last of the remaining clouds from the storm in a pale yellowish orange. Zelda almost dozed off once or twice in Vaati's demon eye claws, exhausted from the day's events. She couldn't wait to go back to her bed and just sleep until the next morning…

Her eyes fluttered open when she suddenly noticed that instead of flying upwards where the Palace was, Vaati had begun to coast lower to the ground. Puzzled, she shot a questioning glance towards the expressionless giant eye that was holding her, but Vaati pretended to ignore her and continued to fly lower. That was when she noticed their destination a few minutes away: a small village town with markets that were beginning to close shop and taverns whose windows were lighting up with lanterns for the coming night.

Vaati set her down in the shadow of an ally where she wouldn't be seen. "Wait here," he ordered, and he conjured two sentries to keep her safe before he disappeared.

"Well it's not like I can walk anywhere on my own," Zelda grumbled at her tired legs, her snippiness returning somewhat now that she was feeling a little better than before. Before long, the sorcerer returned with a bottle of potion, red liquid sloshing around in the glass. He sat down on the cobblestone next to Zelda as he passed it towards her.

"Here, this should help heal your wounds."

Zelda took the two bottles, and then frowned. "I can't take this in good conscience if you'd threatened anyone for it."

Vaati snorted. "I didn't. I just walked into a potion shop and the lady pushed it onto me," he laughed, "I guess I looked bloody enough that she thought I needed serious medical attention."

Zelda looked at him. He did look like he'd been attacked by a butcher knife what with all of the blood on his clothes, and no one would think that he'd been the one who'd caused the bloodshed what with his somewhat youthful appearance. Furthermore, no one would ever suspect that this pale, frail-looking Hylian was actually the infamous Sorcerer of Winds: as far as the rest of the world was concerned, Vaati was the giant demon eye. The princess sighed. "I don't really… please don't. I don't want to think about how many you killed."

"Ugh, princess, it ended up being useful this time. I didn't have to blow up the potion sellers to bring you those," Vaati scowled.

"Please don't joke about that."

Vaati's lips flattened, like a child whose fun had been ruined, and then he smiled to himself. "Heh, fine."

Zelda opened the bottle and took a sip of the potion. The sweet and slightly bitter taste of the potion, like mix of strawberries and tea, hit her tongue and she closed her eyes as she could feel a warm, soothing heat rush towards her injured shoulder and cut hands. The tiredness flew out of her knees and she was instantly rejuvenated.

And that's when her stomach decided to complain with a growl.

Vaati's head snapped around, while Zelda turned away, red with embarrassment and upset at her stomach's betrayal. The sorcerer grinned mischievously, and then he threw his head back , laughing. "Hahaha! I suppose we haven't really eaten anything today." He jumped up onto his feet and held out a hand. "Let me treat you."

Zelda didn't look so sure. "You're not suggesting I go out like," she waved her hands around her dirtied clothes and the dress that was torn so much that it revealed an almost… inappropriate amount of leg, "this," she finished.

"Please. You're hungry. I'm hungry," Vaati scoffed. "Besides, you always complain about the food at the Palace anyway."

"Vaati, I'm the princess of Hyrule! Do you know how recognizable I am? _!_ You can't expect me to walk the streets looking like this!" Zelda protested, but let the sorcerer stand her upright anyway. This was completely improper of her, but at the same time she was feeling a little rebellious – she had a long day, and she didn't have a lot of energy left to be proper and decent. "And I do _not_ always complain about the food. I might have said something _once_."

"Just play along, will you? I'm not letting you starve. What kind of monster do you take me for?" When Zelda rolled her eyes, Vaati chuckled. "Looks like you're back to the Zelda I know."

"Who are you and what did you do to Vaati?" the princess asked huffily.

Vaati gave her a sly smile and started to pull her towards the streets. "Oh? I wonder what you could possibly mean by that," he teased.

"Absolutely nothing!" She stopped short right at the edge of the ally. Some people were wandering about on their way home to dinner, and a few passerby were already throwing them terrified looks. It couldn't be helped, since both of them looked like they'd been coughed up by the grave, and Zelda's face was still slightly puffy from crying earlier. There was another impatient tug from Vaati, and she sighed again when he gave her a look that said she was going to accompany him whether she liked it or not. "As long as you're not going to cause trouble," she muttered, but with a smile just tugging on her lips. She couldn't help but smile. He was just like that good-humored sorcerer she'd had a glimpse of back at the piano room. Had he always been like this or…?

They walked the streets, Zelda self-consciously following Vaati, and she kept her head facing the ground until Vaati snapped at her, telling her to hold her head up high. "You're a proud princess," he'd insisted gruffly, "and I won't have you hanging your head."

They eventually stopped in front of a hearty tavern. Zelda hesitated again at the entrance, when she could hear the boisterous voices of the people already eating their evening meal. Vaati gave her a disappointed look when she stopped just before the door. She couldn't… if people saw her face and recognized her as the princess of Hyrule, then what would she do? She couldn't go in like this, with her clothes bloody and her dress torn up at the front with her legs showing all the way up above her knees…

"Ah!" Zelda gasped when a heavy cloth was thrown over her head. It took a few seconds for her to realize that it was Vaati's cape. The sorcerer clipped it on with his pin so that it covered most of her face, and then wordlessly dragged her into the tavern. "Uh… thank you," Zelda mumbled under her breath.

When the door to the tavern swung open, there was an immediate hush and all eyes stared at the two blood stained visitors. Most of the whispers were directed towards the hooded girl behind the pale youth, and Zelda shrank back from the whispers about her clothes. Vaati was the first to speak, and his voice cut through the air with all the severity of a venomous whip. "Staring isn't very polite," he narrowed his eyes, "you'd do well to mind your own business if you know what's good for you."

Zelda reached out towards the sorcerer, about to protest his threatening demeanor, but Vaati would have none of it. Before she could say a word, he'd unceremoniously dragged her over to an empty table in the corner of the tavern. The noise level slowly made its way back up to normality as the people tried their best not to look too curious about the unusual couple.

"Um, excuse me sir," a young woman made her way towards their table. She twisted her long red hair nervously around her fingers, and she held a food tray close to her chest like it would shield her against whatever unpleasantries Vaati might inflict on her. "You're making the other customers nervous and-"

"And you'll bring this starving girl the best food you have," Vaati snapped, interrupting the poor woman.

"Vaa-" Zelda began, but then stopped herself when she realized that people would still recognize his name, "er…"

The sorcerer sent a warning gaze towards the princess before he picked up where she left off, "Valiant. I'm Lord Valiant and I just saved this young Lady-"

"Lady Zealous," Zelda supplied on cue.

"-Zealous," Vaati's eyebrow rose just a little, "from a terrible monster. So if you don't bring her food I will-"

"We will be very grateful if you can serve us whatever you have," Zelda finished firmly, before Vaati decided to use threats to get his way, "and we have plenty of rupees to pay for expenses." She gave a stern frown towards "Lord Valiant," that had an unspoken yet very clear message of "we're paying and there're no exceptions."

The woman looked from Vaati to Zelda, her nervousness turning to surprise. Something clicked in her head when she put the two's mangled clothes and the monster story together. "Oh my," she gasped, "I'm so sorry, you must have had a terrible day. I'll go and see what I can do."

The woman turned her heel, catching the looks of the other customers wondering if she hadn't been cursed by the new visitors, and she called out loudly, "Dad!"

"Yes Malon?" A voice returned.

"Two orders for the best we've got!"

Vaati smiled, satisfied, and relaxed back into his seat only after he'd given the rest of the room a sweeping, smug look. The two sat quietly in their seats until Malon was out of earshot.

"Lord _Valiant?_ "

"Lady _Zealous?_ "

"Well having taken care of the princess today, I dare say my efforts were heroic and valiant," Vaati scoffed, defending himself.

" 'Zealous' was just the first thing that came to mind after you went through with 'Lord Valiant'!" Zelda cried.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing. When had been the last time since the two of them had experienced something as normal as sitting in a tavern and ordering food amongst the crowd of the common folk? It was kind of exciting, taking up false names and for one night pretending to be someone else, setting aside the fact that she was Princess Zelda and he was Wind Mage Vaati. Lord Valiant and Lady Zealous were almost like… almost like normal people. It was easy to forget the fact that they weren't supposed to be together. All of the usual antagonistic tension between them was gone.

"Well then, Lord Valiant," Zelda's giggles died down when she'd finally caught her breath, "I suppose I…" her voice faltered, and she looked down at her fingers somberly, "I suppose I owe you my thanks."

Vaati's chuckles died down, and his eyes took on a sly glint as he leaned forward on the table lazily. "Do go on."

"Don't ruin it," Zelda warned. Then, she gave a small smile, "for… this. For today. I never expected you to be the one to make me feel better."

"Anything to trap you in my spell, dear," Vaati grinned.

Zelda refrained from saying anything too unladylike when Malon returned with some drinks for their table. Instead, she peered out from under her bloody hood with a tiny grin of her own. "I said don't ruin it."

The sorcerer laughed. "You're welcome."


	19. Just Say Yes

Zelda shifted under her covers, and yawned as she stretched her arms. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled involuntarily before her face quickly corrected itself into a concerned frown. She pulled the covers back over her face again sheepishly.

Last night had been… kind of nice.

_Just kind of, huh?_

Zelda immediately scowled, and batted away Vaati's imaginary voice that had crept into her head. _Shoo!_

They'd stayed at the tavern even after they'd finished their food, bantering lightly to each other and making up new stories about their respective roles as Lord Valiant and Lady Zealous. She didn't remember how it had even happened, but before she knew it all of the tension was gone and they were joking around like they really _were_ neighborly lords and ladies who'd been best friends since they'd met. They'd come up with a silly little story about how Lord Valiant was a traveling pianist (Zelda's idea, which Vaati hadn't been too happy about but had gone along with), and Lady Zealous was a runaway priestess who fought monsters on the side. With her bare hands. Lord Valiant had saved the runaway priestess from an evil one-eyed wind demon by playing the most awful song, but not before she'd ripped off its wings with her muscular biceps. The story had gotten kind of crazy, and most of the time they'd been giggling like children rather than finishing their food.

At some point she'd managed to get the vegetarian Vaati to eat bacon on a dare, and she vaguely recalled losing to the sorcerer's challenge to down a glass of water with twenty sugar cubes.

Oh and she definitely remembered that nice girl – Malon, was her name? – asking them if they could please keep it down a little.

They'd both been tired last night. And a little crazy from being tired. But now that she was well rested and wide awake all she could do was pretend that last night had never, ever, happened. As nice as it had been, all of that had, as far as she was concerned, never happened.

Zelda looked down at her palms where only the faintest traces of her previous scars from the fight with Helmaroc remained. The red potion had wiped away the scars as though the fight had never happened. She was still at the Palace of Winds, and it was a grim reminder that she was still back where she'd started. Away from Hyrule, away from her kingdom.

With Vaati.

Zelda slipped out of her covers, rubbing her eyes from the light that was already hitting the Palace walls. Did she oversleep? Probably. It looked like Vaati had overslept, too, since he was taking his time picking her up for their daily breakfast routine. She walked over to the closet to find something to wear, and she noticed that it was already full with some new dresses to replace the ones she'd ruined. Zelda scowled to herself unhappily and she picked out a random one – it was another lavender dress, floaty and innocent like before. Even before she tried it on she knew it was going to fit her perfectly. They always did. How Vaati had even gotten ahold of such private information like her size made her feel kind of gross. Granted maybe that was something he'd figured out back when he'd had no concept whatsoever of respect, but still. It wasn't like he'd magically turned into a white knight these past few days.

_The warm hands that had held hers, pulling her closely into an embrace. She was safe. She could feel his brief sigh of relief against her ears and his heartbeat against her chest. "Zelda," he murmured._

The princess blinked at the memory, and then shook her head. That memory… i-it never happened. _And that was exactly the trouble,_ Zelda thought to herself as she slipped into the dress. She had to remind herself constantly about how disgusting Vaati was because sometimes she forgot herself.

Like last night.

Like yesterday.

_He was looking down at her with the most mischievous of grins. "Let me treat you," he said as he reached for her hand in an invitation. She found herself taking his hand, and she couldn't help but smile a little at his cheerful demeanor. "Let's get in trouble," that smile had said, and for some reason when she was with him, she didn't feel all that bad about forgetting her place as the princess of Hyrule._

She shook her head again. _I'm thinking clearly now_. It was more like she was trying to convince herself than anyone. It was getting harder, though. Whenever he had those rare moments when he was boyishly cheerful with a contagious grin that said he didn't have a care in the world… it was pretty hard to hate him. He was free as the wind. No worries or cares, just him and his dreams.

She found herself envying him for that freedom sometimes, that freedom to do whatever she wanted without anyone stopping her or weighing her down.

_That's a terrible thought, Zelda! What has gotten into you?_

Guiltily, she looked down at her lap and she slowly pulled her hair back up in a ponytail. She wasn't sure if she should wince or cheer at the following thought that retorted, _Well maybe sometimes it's stifling to be a princess, okay?_

"So?" she addressed the sentry eye hovering over her, a big more snappishly than she'd intended, "what's taking him so long?"

The little eye flit about almost nervously, and then it started flying around in confused tiny circles under Zelda's stare. She became increasingly suspicious when the sentry became even more agitated at the fact that the princess suspected something wasn't right. "Is there something going on that I'm not supposed to know about?" she asked slowly. She didn't wait for an answer, however, and was already making her way out into the greater Palace to figure out what Vaati was up to. Meanwhile, the poor sentry flew about her head, apparently wanting to stop her but unable to do so.

The first thing she noticed when she stepped out of her room was the lack of monsters. Usually there was something prowling about around the Palace, but today, there was nothing. There were no stalfos making rounds, and no poes floating aimlessly around the corridors with their faintly glowing lanterns. Not even the Bubbles were gathered around the garden area where they usually were.

Zelda glanced over at the sentry that was looking like it would be wringing its hands right now if it actually had hands. "Ok, what's going on?" she demanded.

The sentry averted its gaze.

"I know you can hear me, Vaati," she pressed, unamused. Then, she huffed and made her way towards the dining area. Surely there was someone there?

"Where do you think you're going?"

Zelda was stopped just short of pushing the doors open to the dining hall when the sorcerer in question suddenly materialized in front of her. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was floating a few feet off the ground, looking down at her with a scowl on his face.

The princess had her hands on her hips and returned a scowl of her own. "Wherever I feel like going."

"Look, ah, princess," Vaati sighed tiredly, "we're kind of busy at the moment so-"

" _We?"_ Now she definitely knew something weird was going on and she was even more determined to find out.

"Yes. We." Vaati replied flatly. "And it's absolutely none of your business, dear, so you should go back to your room." His eyes narrowed. " _Now._ "

Maybe a few weeks ago Zelda would have shrunk back, afraid to press Vaati further out of fear of getting a violent reaction from him, but she didn't think she could be frightened of the sorcerer anymore. Something had happened between them yesterday that changed how she saw him. Or maybe it was something that had started back when they'd argued about what it meant to be a married couple.

A married..

Oh Farore.

Zelda's face was suddenly bright red in embarrassment, and it didn't take Vaati long to notice. Completely confused on why the princess would be blushing after he'd ordered her to mind her own business, the sorcerer put on a puzzled frown and completely missed the opportunity to tease her. Zelda confused him sometimes.

"All right! Fine! I'm leaving!" Zelda cried, flinging her hands up in the air and quickly turning her heel. _Ugh I am NOT thinking clearly right now,_ she scolded herself. Before she could leave, she was stopped abruptly by a slender hand wrapping around her wrist. She turned her head slowly, her expression just one big tired "Are you serious?"

Vaati had taken her left hand captive and was turning them over, observing them closely. "Hmm, just a moment."

"You said you wanted me to leave, and now you're stopping me from leaving," Zelda muttered under her breath, but just loudly enough that the sorcerer could hear.

Vaati waved her comment away. "Yes, yes, I know what I said." He took a few more seconds looking at her hands, and appeared to be especially interested in her fingers. Then, with a satisfied smile, he released his hold.

"Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" Zelda asked, rubbing her left hand as though she were a little worried he might have put an unpleasant spell on it.

"Oh," he smiled in a way that was too sly for Zelda's liking, "you'll see."

"I don't like the sound of that one bit."

Vaati laughed. "Oh trust me. You'll like it."

And there it was again, that mischievous little smile. She used to hate that smile in the beginning, but somehow over the course of time it had grown on her. Well, maybe it was a slightly different smile now than the one it used to be. It wasn't as tense, and the corners of his mouth weren't taut with bitterness and contempt. Or maybe she was just imagining everything and was going crazy. Either way, it was too difficult to not give a tiny smile of her own. "Trust you? Don't be ridiculous." She lingered for a few seconds longer, as though time would encourage Vaati to spill his secret on what he was up to, but before long a poe swooped by and coaxed her away, saying food was waiting for her in a different room. Zelda was almost tempted to fight back until she got answers, but another glance towards the sorcerer's face stopped her. Before he vanished into the air, he'd given her a grin and a sly wink.

Zelda sighed, but couldn't help but chuckle as she shook her head. He really was too good with those silent 'Trust Me" gazes. It was no wonder he was a terrible villain with that conniving grin of his.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A day passed without anything too interesting going on after Vaati had sent Zelda off, preventing her from seeing what he was up to in the great hall where they usually dined. Well, even though it had been an uninteresting day, that wasn't to say that the princess had done nothing at all: she'd been determined to figure out what it was that the sorcerer had hidden away, and therefore had spent the majority of the day exploring the palace trying to find different ways into the great hall. It was kind of silly, in retrospect, how she was trying to find ways into the Palace now, rather than trying to find a way out, like she had in the beginning.

When Zelda woke the next day, she threw the covers messily over the bed and jumped down with a determined expression on her face. Today she was going to get to the bottom of whatever it was that Vaati was hiding, and she knew just where to start. She was going to need to wear something loose-fitting and easy to move in, because she was probably going to have to do some climbing, and squeezing into small places. She was going to need the hairpins she'd found in the bathroom drawers so she could pick a few locks, and she was also going to need some bed sheets as a makeshift rope. Yes, she was totally ready. Vaati wasn't going to be able to hide anything from her.

Zelda threw open the closet, and immediately her determined expression froze, and then gradually drooped into one of severe disappointment. "What the…?" Instead of being full with a wide selection of garments just for her, this morning there was only one dress hanging in the closet.

Still frowning, she slowly picked out the dress from the closet to take a look at what it was. It was a heavy dress, and her first thought was that it was definitely going to be no good for her mission today. It was also a very long dress, which would make it easy for her legs to get tangled in, and there were also very shiny and very obnoxious white gems sewn into the fabric that would no doubt get caught. Alright, so it was actually a very beautiful strapless dress fringed with the softest lace, but it was hardly anything she could wear for an outside excursion. The dress also came with an ornate diamond studded choker and some expensive-looking white lace gloves. It was so pretty that she felt loathe to cut it up to suit her needs as she had done before, and she knew she was definitely going to have to do some cutting: the fabric fanned out from the hips to make the wearer appear like a white rose, and that definitely had to go if she planned on running around the hidden nooks of the Palace.

Zelda's frown deepened. Hmmm, something about that description disturbed her memory. What was it? Something about the description of white rose. Was it the color? White? White.

White…

_I understand it's every girl's dream to wear a white dress…_

"No…" Zelda dropped the white dress involuntarily when the words from the past snuck into her head, but before it hit the floor a poe swooped into the room through the walls and picked it up for her.

"Yes!" the ghostly monster replied cheerily.

Zelda whirled around towards the poe, unhappy that it had been spying on her, but her frown turned into a puzzled bite of her lip when she took a good look at the monster. The first thing Zelda noticed was that the poe looked different from how poes normally appeared. Normally, poes were semi-transparent creatures who covered their faces with a large ragged cowl in shades of dark greys or dusty purples. This poe, however, was much more… festive? Yes, festive. It was wearing a shimmering white cowl adorned with all sorts of white daisies and shining skulls, and had ribbons and lace all over itself. "Good morning Princess! I am Maribel, and I will be helping you get ready for your big day!"

Zelda tensed. "What big day…?"

"Oh, you know," Maribel giggled, " _the_ big day." The ghost spread the white dress onto Zelda's bed and then waved its hands in front of her face hurriedly. "Come on, now! I know you can undress yourself. If you don't hurry I'll do it myself! No need to be shy now."

Not in the least excited about being undressed by a ghostly monster, even one completely covered in flowers and ribbons, Zelda cautiously began to slip out of her nightgown while she asked, "Does this have anything to do with Vaati's surprise?"

Maribel scratched her head. "I guess? I was just told to help you get dressed and be all cheerful and bubbly and pretend I actually like these stupid flowery… flowers," the ghost trailed off, and then gave a nervous giggle when she saw Zelda staring at her incredulously, "Oh no, did I say that out loud?"

"You're telling me that _Vaati_ asked you to look like that?" Zelda couldn't contain her disbelief. The image of Vaati being surrounded by monsters trying their best to look innocent and wearing daisy crowns was mind-blowingly weird.

"We do not question Lord Vaati's wishes," Maribel replied huffily, although in a tone that suggested the poe thought this entire thing was ridiculous. The poe then quickly waved her hands in front of Zelda's face, trying to get the princess to dress faster. Zelda slipped into the dress, and she looked at herself in the mirror while the ghost zipped up her back. As she'd thought, it fit her perfectly, and she was almost embarrassed by how well it looked on her: this was definitely the kind of dress every girl would dream of wearing. Meanwhile, Maribel began to float around her head with a hairbrush, trying to figure out what to do about her hair. "Hmm, up-do? Down-do? Braids? No braids?" the ghost mumbled to herself. When she noticed Zelda glancing up at her uncertainly, Maribel brushed her off, "Don't worry, princess, I used to take care of many fine ladies back before I started this business; I know a thing or two about hair."

"Back before you… Oh. You mean before you were dead," Zelda grimaced. It hadn't really occurred to her that poes had actually been real people. Er, well maybe they were real people _now_ , but she meant when they'd been huma- that is to say, when they'd been _less dead_. Ugh this was coming out all wrong.

Maribel didn't seem to notice Zelda's mental struggle, and seemed stuck on how to do the princess's hair while she talked to herself. "Mmm, actually I'm not sure if that's what I actually did back when I was one of you disgusting things – oh excuse me princess I spoke that aloud didn't I – but that's what I assume I did because I sure know a lot about sewing and tying things. Hmmm," Maribel suddenly brightened, "Or maybe I used to cut people up and sew them back together, like an embalmer!"

Zelda shifted uncomfortably in front of the mirror while the ghost dressed in flowers spoke happily about the prospect that it could have been an embalmer in its earlier life. "I like your first version better." Then, she sighed, "and could you at least tell me why Vaati is doing all this?"

Maribel, who had been chewing on the end of the hairbrush, clapped her hands together. "Up-do and curls." The poe poked the princess in the shoulder with the hairbrush and goaded her to sit down. It kind of reminded her of Impa's bossiness whenever she was helping the princess get ready to go out for a special meeting. "You'll see him soon enough and you can ask him yourself. Before that, though, I'm going to make sure you look okay to see his Lordship, so sit down and let me assist you."

XXXXXXXXXX

A little over an hour later, the princess was standing right by the doorway to her room, refusing to budge another inch outside of it. At the same time, she was fending off Maribel, a few other poes, some Bubbles, and a nervous Stalfos who were insistent that they escort her… somewhere. "I want to know exactly what's going on, and why in the world am I being made to wear _this?_!" Zelda yelled while she pointed at the veil that Maribel had managed to set with her hair.

Zelda had suspected. Zelda had been wary. But it wasn't until she'd actually seen the veil and the dainty bouquet of white and lavender flowers to hold that she was absolutely sure what this was all about.

She. Was. In. A. Wedding. Gown.

"I am _not_ leaving my room until Vaati explains just exactly what is going on!" she swatted Maribel's hand away when the poe tried to reach for her and pull her past the door.

"Princess please," the ghost pleaded, "we'll be in a lot of trouble if – "

"You're already in a lot of trouble with me," Zelda snapped.

"But you're not as frightening as-"

"Oh is that _so?_ You don't think I can be scary, do you?"

"Well it's just that – "

"Helmaroc said the same thing and I'm pretty sure he changed his mind!"

"Yes that's true but – "

There was a brief gust that interrupted the princess and the group of worried monsters, and Vaati tiredly appeared in the middle of them all with his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright, so what's gotten you upset this time, dear?"

"Vaati! I… you…" flustered, Zelda pointed a shaking finger at the sorcerer who had suddenly decided to appear. She trailed off for a moment when she realized that Vaati also wasn't in his normal attire of dark purple and gold. Instead he was wearing an elaborate white and gold-themed tunic and a white cape to match. He'd even taken his hat off and had tied his hair back so that he looked clean. Noble, even. Zelda felt her cheeks redden when she remembered an earlier thought she'd had.

" _It wasn't like he'd magically turned into a white knight these past few days."_

Vaati raised an eyebrow knowingly, and then chuckled, "Yes?" Then, he took a good look at the princess in her wedding gown, admiring how she looked. "And you are stunning in that dress."

"Are you going to tell me what's going on _!_?" Zelda demanded exasperatedly.

"Please, princess, I thought this was obvious," Vaati retorted, spreading his arms. "Wasn't the dress a hint enough?"

With a scowl on her face, Zelda stomped over and poked him in the chest, "And it never occurred to you that you might tell me about it _first_ before doing something like this?"

Vaati scratched his chin for a few seconds, and then shrugged. "Hmmm, no. After all, I couldn't have you refusing. It's much less of a bother if I force you into it."

"Dear Farore, Vaati, you haven't learned a thing and – "

"Shhh, shhhh!" Vaati walked forward and gently wrapped his fingers around Zelda's hands that had been shaking as though she wanted to punch him. He chuckled at her angry face, which reminded him of how she'd first been when he'd kidnapped her, but instead of being annoyed by it he couldn't help but find it to be kind of cute. Maybe it was because he could just imagine her expression when he did what he was going to do next. Still keeping his eyes fixed on her face, making sure that she was looking at him, Vaati knelt down on one knee with a devious little grin and presented to her a ring. "Marry me."

Zelda lost her voice, and she stared at the sorcerer open-mouthed in stunned silence while some of the other monsters around them urgently nodded their heads, telling her quietly to say "Yes." She didn't know what to say. This was completely unfamiliar territory, and she'd never had to deal with anything like this before. The proposal had come out of nowhere, and it was probably one of the most ham-fisted, unromantic proposals she'd ever imagined. It made it worse that she was still angry, and she'd never imagined being asked for her hand in marriage _after_ she'd been made to wear a wedding dress: things didn't usually go in that order. Therefore, the first words out of her stumbling mouth were something that tried to salvage familiarity in a strange situation. "Vaati, that was an order. You can't just order someone to- someone to agree to something like that!"

Vaati's grin twisted into a puzzled one. "Oh. Was it?"

"Yes, it was."

"Hmm," Vaati frowned, "I thought I'd gotten it right." He puzzled over it some more, and then shrugged again, holding up the ring and saying in a bored tone, "So? Yes or no?"

Zelda crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you even going to take no for an answer?"

"I mean, we already refer to each other as husband and wife so no, it's not like this is going to change anything," Vaati drawled, though there was an impatient edge to his voice when Zelda mentioned the possibility of saying "no." He stared at the ring as though wondering if he should just put it on her finger right now. He mumbled something under his breath that was too low for Zelda's ears to catch clearly.

"What was that?" Zelda asked. She became curious when the sorcerer turned his head away as though he was wondering what he should say.

"Remember when I said it was too bothersome to give you a proper wedding? At the very beginning?" He finally asked after a few minutes, still knelt down on the floor.

"Well apparently it wasn't!" Zelda snapped miserably, still bitter about having a wedding sprung on her without her knowing. What kind of an idiot had a wedding where the bride didn't even know about it? Still, her frown was beginning to look lopsided because she was finding it difficult to stay mad. She thought she knew what this was about, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to give Vaati a hard time about it.

"Well, yeah, it was a bother," Vaati rolled his eyes, "but it isn't now. Because…" he trailed off, and averted his gaze again.

"Because…?" Zelda repeated, curious.

The silver ring rolled between Vaati's fingers, and it took him another few seconds until he shot back, "Because it just isn't. I thought it would be interesting and something new to do when we're bored." He shifted his weight on his knees, and he was scowling at the ground, upset at nothing in particular for being uncomfortable.

The princess blinked, and looked at the sorcerer quietly. She knew what she had to say. It was so easy to figure out what the right answer was supposed to be. She knew really well that all she had to do was say "No," but her voice was caught in the back of her throat and her cheeks were betraying a ridiculous shade of red. Everything about this was so stupid that she just wanted to go find someone to yell at. She opened her mouth to speak, and then shut it again. Then, she opened her mouth once more and finally found her voice. "N-"

"Just play along, will you?"

And there it was again, that killer mischievous grin. To refuse now would have been like kicking a begging puppy off of a cliff, albeit a dangerous puppy that occasionally went on murderous rampages. It was just like that time when Vaati had playfully dragged her into the streets in bloody rags to get a bite to eat; just like that time when they'd pretended they'd been Lord Valiant and Lady Zealous. It was the smile that was Vaati, yet wasn't Vaati. It wasn't the Vaati that had kidnapped her in the very beginning, but it was the Vaati who, if she'd maybe gotten to know in a different setting, she might have actually gotten along with. Zelda smiled back. She knew her answer.

"No," she replied, much to Vaati's shock, "I will not say yes to you, Vaati. I cannot."

"Wh-" Vaati began, his head snapping back, wide-eyed and defensive.

"But," Zelda held out her left hand, now shushing him completely like he'd done to her earlier, "I might, _might_ , be able to say yes to a Lord Valiant…" she trailed off. When Vaati simply stared at her, dumbfounded, she winked, mirroring that sly grin, "Just play along, will you?"

It wasn't often that someone was able to make Vaati lose all of his words with a wink and a smile. Still, he supposed that was why he'd picked the princess as his wife. Or, at least one of the reasons. Regaining his composure, although still in disbelief that Zelda had caught him by surprise like that, he gave a small laugh and slipped the ring on her finger with a smile. "Heh, alright then Lady Zealous."

The ring fit perfectly on her finger. He'd made sure to it, after all, when he'd taken a good look at her hand the day before. For a brief moment, it looked as though Vaati might reach down to kiss her hand out of habit as he stood up, but he stopped himself. Vaati might have done that, but Zelda wanted him to play along as Lord Valiant, who probably wouldn't have done that. He laughed to himself at the silliness of it all, but it was a silliness that was perfectly fine and actually kind of fun. "See you at the wedding in a few minutes, dear, everything's all prepared," he turned his back and casually waved his hand before he disappeared.

Zelda gave a small smile. Did she know what she was doing? Absolutely not. But at this point, she knew what she said to be true. She didn't mind Lord Valiant that much, maybe liked him, even. Or, more than liked him. Maybe. When she felt worried or burdened he could make her laugh her troubles away.

And that was the kind of person she could rely on.

It was too bad he also had to be Vaati.


	20. Till Death Do Us Part

_Zelda, what are you doing?_

Zelda bit her lip as the door to the great hall, which Vaati had prevented her from entering yesterday, opened for her. She wasn't sure how to answer the tiny nagging voice in her head, and she answered back truthfully, _I have no idea._

Music tinkled in the hall, and although it wasn't the prettiest song (or most coordinated for that matter), it wasn't terrible. She noticed that a trio of mummy-like monsters, Gibdos, were trying their best to crank three music boxes in sync, and the clumsy way they went about it had a certain kind of charm.

Zelda felt a small tap on her right arm. The tiny sentry that had been with her since the very beginning of this mess was looking up from near her hand, as though to urge her to accompany it down the aisle. She smiled, briefly, and took her first step onto the rich purple bridal carpet.

Under the veil, Zelda's downward gaze was hidden. She'd always imagined that she'd be accompanied by Impa when she walked down the aisle on her special day. It wasn't like this was serious or anything, but it still felt kind of empty when the spot beside her was filled only by the little sentry.

Zelda glanced up momentarily to take a look at her surroundings. This wasn't actually a serious wedding… was it? After all, they both clearly knew that they couldn't be together once she went back to Hyrule, right? They were just "playing along with it," weren't they?

Dozens of monsters lined the aisle, all of them standing at attention (since not all of them could sit), and a few had adorned themselves with ribbons and flowers similar to how Maribel the poe had. They looked towards her expectantly, some of them admiringly, and she thought she saw a moblin brighten up with an excited smile. It was different than how the monsters had looked at her before she'd beaten the Helmaroc King: instead of eyeing her with wary fear, they now gazed on her with respectful reverence. In fact, it wasn't at all unlike how some people in Hyrule looked at her whenever she made a personal appearance in town. Word had apparently gotten around that she was a tough and worthy champion, it seemed. The Helmaroc King himself was present, still with a shattered mask, and he stood tall, a little behind Vaati, as a symbol for his support.

Zelda slowly walked forward, the one-eyed Ghini ghosts lighting up the hall with their shining robes and throwing flower petals before her feet. With every step she took and every monster she passed, they bowed their heads respectfully. By the time she made it to the end, standing in front of Vaati, the entire audience of the most feared creatures of Hyrule had their head lowered in her honor. Finally, Helmaroc bowed his head behind Vaati.

"Well?" Vaati smiled, when he noticed her hesitate at the very last step.

Zelda nervously gripped her bouquet of flowers, but eventually managed to smile back. She couldn't explain it: no matter how much she knew she was meant to hate it, she couldn't help but be reassured by that smile. Well, she did hate it, once. But that was before she knew that he meant it when he said he didn't want to see her hurt.

She took her final step at the end of the aisle, joining Vaati by his side. Dressed in white as well, he looked nothing like the imposing Sorcerer of Winds, and instead looked, well, almost like a charming normal man.

Maribel floated over and took the bouquet from the princess's hands, and a Darknut in silver armor cleared its throat next to Vaati. It was holding a book in its hand, and a crown painted with the symbol of Vaati's eye was propped on its head. "If the Lord and Lady are ready," it began.

Vaati took the cue, and nodded with that confident air of his. "We are."

 _We are?_ Zelda's eyes wandered uncertainly.

"Princess Zelda," Vaati grinned, "I promise to never let you out of my sight. I'll do my best to make sure you'll always be mine and mine only." He paused when he saw Zelda beginning to look worried from the rather creepy promises thus far, and then started again with a renewed smile on his face, "I also promise that I will be the only one to ever make you upset, because I will destroy any other unhappiness that might approach you. I'll let you get mad at me all you want, if that will make you stay with me longer."

Zelda stood speechless for a while. And then she giggled at the earnest yet somehow blundered vow from Vaati. Though the sorcerer could be a smooth talker, it seemed he wasn't very good at it when he was actually being honest about it.

"And I promise that…" Zelda hesitated. She hadn't really given her vow much thought, since _some idiot_ had decided not to tell her about the wedding until the morning they were going to have it. "I promise that I will give you a chance as long as you continue to be a gentleman."

"What kind of a vow is that?" Vaati scrunched his nose in disappointment.

Zelda sniffed. "Yours isn't much better, you know."

"What?"

The Darknut tapped the page in his book, getting both of their attentions. "Lady Zelda and Lord Vaati, If you are ready to – "

"It's Lady Zealous and Lord Valiant," Zelda interrupted sternly. "I agreed on those terms."

"I… er…" the Darknut stumbled over its words, and then looked towards Vaati for help.

The sorcerer gave a snort, though a smile was still tugging along his face. "No, it isn't."

"Then I can't do this, Vaati, and you know it!" Zelda cried. "It wasn't easy for me to agree in the first place, and the only reason why I agreed is because Zealous and Valiant aren't… they aren't…" she clenched her fists, gritting her teeth with all of the frustration she'd held back for the past several days, "they're not the princess of Hyrule and the evil sorcerer of legends."

"Zelda," Vaati reached out and put a hand on hers, "look at me."

Zelda looked as though she wouldn't listen to him, but eventually she slowly wrenched her eyes away from the floor to look at him. He was smirking, as though he were trying not to burst out laughing, but at the same time there was a reassuring softness underneath the snark.

"The name was the only thing I made up about Lord Valiant," Vaati said slowly.

Zelda's voice wavered. _I know that,_ she thought. _I've known that since the time you found me with the Helmaroc King, and that's why this is so difficult._ "I know," she answered eventually. "But there is no Zealous without Valiant, and..." her head snapped towards the monsters gathered for the ceremony, "It's just… I just don't… what will _Hyrule_ think of this? What of my duty? Wha-"

"What is it that _you_ want?" Vaati shushed her.

"No. No Vaati I have to think of my people first." Zelda shook her head.

"Why are they more important than you?"

"You wouldn't understand. You're too selfish."

At this, Vaati's smile turned ever so briefly into a smirk. "Ha. Perhaps." Then, he leaned his head towards her so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes. "Then tell them that it was this selfish bastard's fault. I forced you to be selfish. Come on, then, forget the names and answer me this: do you still have doubts?"

_Of course I do._

Before Zelda could answer, however, the Darknut impatiently tapped its finger on the book it was holding. "I believe that question is supposed to be my line," it announced flatly.

"Hmph. Then hurry it up, you fool," Vaati waved his hands irritably at the looming armored monster.

"If you are ready to step into the holy circle of matrimony," the Darknut began to go slowly through the phrases in the book in a booming voice, causing all of the monsters to fall into an instant hush, "assuming all its rights, obligations and abundant joys, please so indicate by joining hands."

Vaati reached for Zelda's remaining hand, but before he did, Zelda thought she noticed a brief pause where he glanced at her face to make sure it was okay. Did she imagine it? Was her mind playing tricks? Why was he suddenly so careful about making sure she was okay, when before he didn't seem to care at all?

_Well maybe it's because he, you know, actually cares about what happens to you? It's not like he's an unfeeling evil bastard._

_Oh wait. But he IS an evil bastard according to what the stories say. What will they say when they see you now?_

Zelda gave a tired, annoyed sigh. _Please, brain, just shut up._ She returned a tiny, uncertain smile at the wind mage before she let him take her hand.

"Do you," the Darknut continued in its loud, rather intimidating voice, "Lord Vaati take this woman, Lady Zelda as your wife, to love her and to honor her, to nurture, serve and support her, in times of joy and in times of difficulty? Do you promise to remain by her side regardless of what troubles befalls you, and in the presence of temptation to forsake this love, do you promise to remain steadfast and true? Do you promise with all your heart and soul to honor this vow till death do you part? If so, answer now, 'I do.'"

"I do," Vaati responded without skipping a beat. His mischievous smile vanished, and his expression was suddenly solemn with resolve. It caught Zelda by surprise, since she hadn't expected him to look as serious as he did now. Wasn't this a joke? He hadn't seemed at all that serious when he'd asked her this morning if she would marry him. In fact, she doubted he would have taken this whole marriage thing so seriously at the very beginning when he'd kidnapped her, so why should he be serious about it now? It wasn't like this was real, was it?

Was it?

"-till death do you part? If so, answer now, 'I do.'"

"Huh?" Zelda looked up at the Darknut, bewildered. She'd completely missed her part of the vow, so preoccupied with her thoughts she'd been. Everyone was looking at her expectantly, most of all Vaati, who was beaming at her like one of those youths in the castle town.

She'd been rash about this. She hadn't thought this through very well. How could she, when this entire thing had been sprung on her this very morning, right when she'd been made to wear a wedding dress by a poe? What would be the implications? What would she explain to Impa when she ever found out about this? How could she continue to rule her people, married to someone who sowed terror in their hearts?

_But what is it that YOU want?_

She flinched inwardly at the thought that nagged her. Truthfully, it was the question she'd been avoiding by drowning it out with the questions of her duty. She didn't want to face that question, because…

_I don't know what I want. I can't disentangle my duty to my own desires._

_Then what would Lady Zealous want?_

"I…" Zelda began slowly, her eyes beginning to wander as she tried to think of what to say. "I d-"

SPLAT!

They never got to hear her answer, because suddenly there was a piece of wedding cake smeared across her neck. The thing had flown from across the room and had unceremoniously landed on the princess, the frosting spattering across her collar. Zelda blinked, and then looked to where there was some commotion from the reception table in the corner of the hall, where the wedding cake and other food was. Behind the cake was a moblin and a Floor Master who looked like they had been in the middle of arguing about something. Maybe the moblin had been trying to sneak a bite of the food and the Floor Master had found out about it, no one could tell for sure, but somehow the piece of cake had left the moblin's hands and was now on the princess. Both monsters looked absolutely mortified.

And who wouldn't be frightened, when Vaati was glaring at them the way he was right now, with his hands crackling with powerful magic.

"I'm going to – " Vaati began with a hiss, but then he suddenly felt something cold and sticky smack him across the face. He was about to go on an angry rampage when he noticed the princess giggling at him with a piece of some cake in her hands. "Zelda, what are y-"

He was interrupted again when, before he could finish his sentence, Zelda had wordlessly grabbed a handful of frosting from her dress and wiped it on his tunic. Then, she took the remaining piece of sponge cake that had hit her earlier and chucked it at the nearest monster in the audience. It hit a wizzrobe squarely in the face.

"Zelda…" Vaati said tiredly now, while the princess gave a small giggle.

"Food fight," she smiled.

For a minute it looked as though Vaati was going to talk some sense into the princess. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again with a frustrated expression. Then, he rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. Wind magic gusted around the room, and several of the monsters backed away in fright. Within an instant, the reception table swirled in the air and landed right in the middle of the aisle near where the bride and groom were standing, along with the moblin and the Floor Master that had first interrupted the ceremony. Wordlessly, Vaati walked over with a frown on his face and glanced down at his hands.

Zelda's grin was becoming a nervous one, since she couldn't tell if Vaati was actually really angry or not. She opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped when some frosting splattered against her shoulder. "Gotcha," she heard Vaati say with a smirk.

The princess blanched, and then with a pout walked up to the table now, pushing aside the Floor Master who was still floating near it, paralyzed in fear. More frosting went flying towards the sorcerer. Another piece of spongy sweetness was smeared across Zelda's face. Vaati got a handful of cake in his hair.

And now some of the monsters had gotten caught in the crossfire. Most of the monsters standing close to the front had at least some frosting on them. The wizzrobes were the first to join the fray, seizing the opportunity to have a little fun with chaotic food throwing. Whatever monsters they angered were the next to join, and pretty soon everyone was throwing food at someone. At one point, Vaati disappeared and after some time, somehow managed to bring back a whole new wedding cake to revenge drop on Zelda for getting him covered with frosting, and the princess was a laughing mess of sugar coated goodness.

But where did he get that new cake?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The baker in castle town was currently in a crisis. A demon had visited and stolen the cake he was supposed to deliver to a wedding in a day. It had been a fearsome creature coated in rich white frosting and dressed in fancy clothes fit for a…well… a wedding. Maybe he had just met the wedding crashing demon. Of course! The wedding the cake was supposed to be for: maybe the bride and groom were cursed? He'd have to give them a careful explanation to forget the wedding. That red eyed demon was a sign that those two should not marry.

The baker shuddered. But ohhhh how dreadful that demon had been. He couldn't get the image out of his head, of the youthful creature with a blood red eye, snarling something obscene at him to get him the biggest cake he had. His pale skin was the color of vanilla frosting, and the way pieces of sponge stuck to him made him look like he'd jumped out of a cake with his claws ripping it to shreds.

Terrible. Just terrible. It was every baker's worst nightmare.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where did you get that cake? _!"_ Zelda asked between laughter and surprised shrieks from fending herself off from flying frosting. She caught her breath, starting to get a little exhausted from her heavy dress and trying to move her hands that were becoming increasingly sticky and weighty from the cake. All around her there was an uproar from the monsters, some still adorned with ribbons and flowers, fighting each other with food. She sat down on the floor, holding her sides from laughter.

Vaati joined her, a completely unrecognizable mess of frosting, and sat down next to her but not before wiping a chunk of cake across her cheek in good fun. "I'm nothing if not resourceful," he winked.

"It wasn't very fair that you found that when we were all running out of ammo," she punched him in the shoulder playfully.

They sat together in silence, watching the chaos unfold around them. The Helmaroc King had long since flown away, claiming he didn't want frosting in his feathers. After some time, Vaati sighed and gave a tired chuckle. "Well, I guess the wedding is ruined then."

Zelda scoffed. "What? That was the most fun I've had in a really long time."

"Ha. I'm glad," a small smile played on Vaati's lips. At the same time, it wasn't one of his sincere smiles and seemed too close to the bitter one she'd seen back before he'd had a change of heart. Zelda couldn't help but notice.

"What's wrong?"

Vaati shifted his weight and looked down at the floor, his expression hidden to her now from his messy hair and the frosting on his face. He sighed again, and fiddled with his fingers. She'd never seen him so obtuse about things before. "You were going to say 'I don't,' weren't you?"

That took Zelda so completely by surprise that her smile went flying off her face. She immediately stopped laughing and tried to get a better look at his face, concerned. She reached for his shoulder momentarily, and then pulled her hand back. What could she say?

It was the truth.

"You know why I can't, Vaati," she finally said.

"I know," Vaati replied thoughtfully. "It's okay, it doesn't bother me."

"It's clearly bothering you."

"It doesn't, because you're going to be my wife anyway," Vaati said stubbornly, though he still didn't look up from the floor. His face had turned into a scowl, and he had that glint of determination in his eye that he wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way. Still, it was evident from the way he refused to look at her that it was bothering him.

Zelda was quiet for a while, playing with a piece of cake in her hands. A small, red, ball-like monster with a metallic mask on its face dashed past, tripping over itself as it slipped on the frosting-smeared floor. She helped it back up, and it gave an embarrassed nod before it ran off to fight the evil cake-throwing monsters. "I have a duty to my people," she replied, but it lacked the same kind of conviction as it had before.

"Then I'll destroy them so you can't use that excuse anymore," Vaati muttered under his breath.

"Then I will have to destroy you," Zelda answered quietly.

They continued to sit in pensive silence, their heads turned away from each other. There was no antagonistic tension between them anymore, but now it was replaced by a cold, calculating logic that dictated what they should do. Somehow it was more uncomfortable than when they had angry sparks between each other. The laughter had been able to hide the ruthlessness of duty, and Zelda found herself missing the carefree silliness that allowed her to forget about the greater implications of her situation. Neither of them said a word. What could they say? The truth was that they were on opposite sides, and there was nothing that could be said to fix it.

"Lord Vaati, a message for you," a familiar voice interrupted the roaring chaos of the monsters around them. Every single creature in the great hall suddenly snapped to attention at the return of the Helmaroc King, and the monsters respectfully listened. The bird nodded gravely towards the sorcerer sitting on the floor. "The Hero is expected to arrive sometime this afternoon, judging by the progress he is making. He now has free access to the Palace of Winds."

Vaati stood up abruptly. He looked at the Helmaroc King blankly for a few seconds.

He'd completely forgotten about Link.

He'd been so busy dealing with everything else that was going on, so preoccupied by the princess, that he'd completely forgotten to deal with Link earlier as he'd meant to do. He was supposed to have defeated Link before the idiot could reach his Palace so that the hero wouldn't be prepared to fight him. Now it was too late.

The sorcerer's expression hardened and his eyes narrowed. His voice a whip, he ordered, "All right you imbeciles, the party is over. Be ready to give the Hero a warm reception." He flicked some cake off of his nose and rubbed away some frosting out of his clothes. His demeanor had instantly changed into one of terrifying coldness. It was almost impossible to see a speck of that laughing youth from earlier. He was the Sorcerer of Winds now.

Meanwhile, Zelda still remained sitting on the floor, a hand up to her mouth in shock. _Link!_

She was a mix of confused emotions, and she didn't know what to do. A wave of guilt washed over her when she realized she'd completely forgotten about him as well during all this time. Her head had been filled with troubles of Vaati that Link had been pushed aside without her realizing it. She felt horrible for forgetting about him all this time when he was doubtlessly fighting horrifying monsters across the land to save her, and meanwhile she'd been laughing along with the one who had kidnapped her. It was so… so wrong! Why, why didn't she feel the relief she was supposed to feel from hearing that name? Why did it only fill her with dread?

Link… he had a special place in her heart. He was her childhood friend, and he always made sure to look out for her. To make sure she was okay. Whenever she had troubles at the castle he did everything in his power to make her smile again. She should be happy to hear his name, and yet it made her wish no one had uttered it.

She looked up towards Vaati who had his back towards her, his white cape hanging against his back, hiding his posture. She couldn't have known that he didn't want to look at her face when she'd heard Link's name. He didn't want to see her light up hopefully when she learned that the hero had come to rescue her.

But she did none of those things. Instead, pained lines etched her face as she desperately willed the sorcerer to turn around and look at her. _Vaati…_

She looked around the room. The festivities had long since died out, and the monsters were wearing their battle-hardened expressions again. The moblins were sharpening their spears and the Darknuts were polishing their armor, leaving no sign of the silly food fight they had participated in earlier. Even the cute little Helmasaur that she'd helped up before had shaken itself free of cake and was walking out the doors with a determined gait.

They were monsters.

That word meant differently to her now, but she knew that to Link a monster was just a monster. And to the monsters, Link was the Hero. They would fight, and they would die.

Zelda's head snapped towards Vaati. He had cleaned up most of the cake off of himself, and appeared ready to leave to prepare for the fight. "Vaati!" She called.

The sorcerer held up a hand impatiently. "Not now, princess. We're done here." His words came out cold and unfeeling.

"But I…" She faltered.

The doors swung behind Vaati with a heavy echo of finality. He never looked back to see her face. And now the words from the wedding held a haunting, foreboding message:

_Till Death Do Us Part._


	21. When I Return

He was gone.

Zelda had run back to her room after she'd yelled at Vaati, and she buried her tear-stained face into her pillow. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" Her voice was a muffled yell as she repeated to herself how much she hated the sorcerer who had left to fight Link. She'd found Vaati again later in the afternoon after they had both cleaned themselves up from the wedding, just as the sun was setting. She'd found him standing by the edge of a balcony, looking out over the edge and into the sky, contemplating. She was sure that if she hadn't found him then, he would have simply left without saying anything to her.

But what good had it been? She hadn't been able to talk any sense in him, pigheaded as he was.

He was going to die. He was _going to die._ She didn't know how she knew this, but she just knew he was going to lose to Link. Her premonitions were usually correct, and this was one time where she wished her gift of premonitions would be wrong.

The words repeated themselves in her head mercilessly: Vaati was going to die.

Zelda gripped the edges of the blankets tightly until they were bunched together in her fists. Was there no other way? Why, why did it have to be like this? In the beginning she would have rejoiced at the fact that Link had arrived to defeat the evil wind mage. In the beginning, she would have been happy to learn that Vaati was going to die. She would have been happy to hear that all of the monsters had been banished and that Hyrule was safe for the Hylians to keep. But now things had changed in ways she would have never imagined, and…

The princess slowly opened her eyes. Change.

_Get up Zelda._

Wiping the tears away from her eyes, the princess sniffed once, and then pushed herself up out of the bed. Kneeling on the covers, she stared at the pillow.

"I can change things…" she whispered to herself. She turned her face towards the mirror on the other side of the room. A young woman, her face stained with burdens and tears, looked back at her. However, it wasn't an expression of defeat. No, she couldn't give up now. The woman in the mirror returned a determined gaze, her expression full of purpose. "Who says that there can only be one left standing?" she asked her reflection. "Are you the princess of Hyrule, or the ruler of the demons? Or maybe you are both?"

People were afraid of change. Few ever dare to leave the comfort of their routines, or have the courage to change the way they see the world. But that didn't mean that it was impossible for things to change. Her eyes steeled, Zelda slid out of the bed and gracefully walked towards the door. She looked exactly as she had when she had first arrived at the Palace of Winds, with her pink royal dress and her hair tied up in a ponytail with a big pink bow. However, the way she carried herself now was different. Her shoulders were ever so slightly pulled back, and her steps were a little wider and more confident. She wasn't the princess who was disgusted to be among monsters, but proud to be considered one of their own.

A stalfos hailed her as she passed, just like the knights of Hyrule did, and as she approached the gardens the bubbles scattered to give her some peace. Zelda took a deep breath as she stood in the middle of the grass. The wind swirled around her hair ever so slightly. It was an uneasy wind that couldn't seem to pick a direction to blow in. Zelda bit her lip, and then looked towards the higher levels of the Palace of Winds, farther away than anywhere she had explored so far. A wall of thick clouds covered it, obscuring most of it from view.

_Vaati… Link…_

She needed a way to get there, through those clouds. It was so far away, so unreachable.

But there was nowhere she couldn't go as the princess of demons.

Zelda whistled twice, the shrill note piercing through the air. Silence fell again for several long seconds, and then Zelda's ears caught the sound of a dull thudding of the air. The Helmaroc King flew into view, his wings creating powerful gusts with each flap, and eventually came to land in front of the princess. He tilted his head, curiously. "You called, Princess?"

Zelda nodded once, and then she pointed towards the highest part of the Palace, hidden away by the clouds. "Take me to where Vaati is."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Din damn it all, they were really powerful. Vaati, now in demon form, opened his eye as he recovered from his initial injuries. That accursed sword had granted the hero the ability to split into four, and it hadn't taken too long for them to use their insane coordination to break through his first defenses. They'd used his winds and his poor peripheral vision against him, throwing bombs from directions he didn't anticipate so that they shattered his stone-enhanced shields. Dazed, he'd retreated momentarily to recover. Vaati's blood boiled when he saw the heroes rejoicing on the platform below, thinking they had bested him.

He wasn't completely healed, but seeing them celebrate so prematurely infuriated him to no end. Swooping down on them, Vaati threw a poorly aimed blast of enraged energy at the four Links. "Did you think you could just leave?" He snarled as the blast caused the heroes to scatter.

"Red! Are you okay?"

"I'm alright! What about Vio and Blue?"

"We're fine, just a little surprised he's still alive."

Vaati's claws clenched and unclenched angrily as the four Links called to each other to make sure they were okay. Who did they think they were, ignoring his presence like that? And for them to assume he'd be defeated so easily, it aggravated him so! "Fools! Impertinent brats! I'll shatter the Four Sword and cast its pieces to the wind!"

Vaati summoned his sentries, each one glowing with hot fire, and they swirled around the battlefield like angry wasps. With his composure completely gone and his attacks reckless from anger, his claws smashed into the ground wherever the heroes were standing. The wind cut through the air in concentrated, powerful blasts blindly, and he became even more enraged when none of his attacks seemed to hit any of the Links.

_Kill them, kill them all!_

But… could he actually do it? He had the power to do it. He could kill them easily, and yet there was something that held him back since the very beginning of the fight. After all, all he could do was summon a great and powerful gale to fling the helpless heroes off the edge of the Palace and they would fall to their deaths in a single blast. He could immobilize their movements with his command of the air, or even turn them to stone. But still, he held back. He couldn't win as easily as that, even though he had the ability to finish the fight with a blink of his eye.

Because now whenever he imagined Link's dying expression, all he could see was Zelda crying next to him, distraught over what he had done. _Why do I care?_ Vaati's anger lashed out, but still the feeling of guilt wouldn't leave him.

And so he attacked blindly, haphazardly, a part of him wanting nothing more than to crush the brats with his claws but another saying he couldn't do it. He growled when a blade from Blue nicked his wings.

_You're really going to die if you hesitate now._

"I won't!" Vaati snarled, causing his summoned sentries to explode like bombs around the battlefield. His eye twitched when he saw that none of the Links were hurt, having blocked the attack with their shields. Then, a thought came to him with a hint of desperation.

_I'm not going to die here. When I return, there is someone I have to speak to._

_When I return I…_

"Aargh!" Vaati shouted when an energy sphere hit him squarely in the side. He'd been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Green reflect one of his own magic attacks back at him with the Four Sword. It crackled against his body and he could feel the remaining magical guards around him break. He was completely exposed to the sealing magic of the Four Sword. He saw all four Links charging towards him now, getting ready to land the final blow against him with their swords.

_No… this can't be…_

"Stop!"

Everyone froze. Everything froze. The four Links stopped mid-dash and the demon eye was staring past them at the shadow of a large bird flying into view. But it wasn't the bird that he was concerned about; it was the figure sitting on its back, with her ginger-blond hair whipping in the wind. Zelda jumped off of the Helmaroc King's back, and she ran as fast as she could towards the four heroes who looked ready to finish Vaati off. "Helmaroc, leave us!" she yelled over her shoulder, ordering the bird to go. She didn't want Link to be threatened by the presence of another powerful monster. When she heard the Helmaroc fly away, she ran even faster towards the Links and Vaati. _So the legends were true about the Four Sword_ , she thought when she saw that it wasn't just one Link but four standing in front of her. There was a Link dressed in his usual green tunic, one dressed in red, another in blue, and another in purple. And just like the legends said, it seemed as though the sword was made to defeat Vaati, from the way the sorcerer floated low to the ground weakly, barely flapping his wings to keep himself aloft. It frightened her to see the sorcerer like that, all battered and beaten, and not at all like the confident Vaati who pretended not to know defeat. It scared her even more, however, to see Link readying to plunge his sword mercilessly through Vaati as though he were no different than a rabid dog. Maybe she would have worn the same expression a few weeks ago, but she knew better, and this wasn't how things had to end.

Zelda threw herself on the nearest Link, Green, hugging the surprised boy tightly. "Link! Link, please, stop fighting…" she cried.

"Zelda, you're okay…" Green spoke in an incredulous hush, almost dropping his sword in shock. He glanced at Vio as though to ask him if he knew why the princess was here, but the purple-clad Link seemed just as puzzled as he. But, no… none of that mattered. All these long days and long nights, they'd gone through so many trials to make sure Zelda was safe. It was the only thing that kept them fighting against the horrendous titans that stood in their way. It was the only thing that kept them from giving up, from running away from the dark dungeons that they had to conquer. They had the courage to keep going because he knew that for every single trial they faced, Zelda faced a trial even worse each passing day. They did it for her. Ever since that fateful day when he and the princess had witnessed the release of the wind mage, he'd been worried about all of the horrible things she'd had to endure under Vaati's captivity. Every night he'd been haunted by how that disgusting eye had leered at her in its claws like she was some kind of prize. It's filthy hands. He remembered. It needed to get it's filthy hands off of her.

"Vaati-"

Green's eyes snapped open at the sound of that name. Why did she call his name so tenderly, like she was… almost worried about him? He must have misheard! When he felt Zelda begin to pull away, Green gripped her shoulders protectively, shielding her from the one-eyed demon that was staring at them with burning hatred. "Zelda, stay back! It's dangerous here."

"Yeah! We have to defeat Vaati for good." Red agreed earnestly, walking up to Green and Zelda with a cautious glance towards the wind mage. Zelda surprised them both by pushing them away.

"No!" she cried, and then she faltered when she saw the sting of hurt flash across Green's face. She wrung her hands. _I'm sorry_. "No," she repeated gently, though firmly, "You don't. Please just listen to me."

"No? Zelda do you even know what you're saying?" Vio asked incredulously.

"Link you don't have to fight him!" Zelda whipped around to face Vio, her expression distraught.

"Don't have to fight him? _!"_ Blue stepped forward, upset that he couldn't finish Vaati off. _"_ He kidnapped you! The whole kingdom was worried about you! _I_ was worried about you!" he exclaimed. His expression indicated anger, but it was one tinged with hurt. She couldn't bear to look at him; how could she admit that she had, amidst her own battles she'd been fighting, forgotten about him?

"I know. I know, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it to anyone a-"

"Are you saying you weren't actually a captive?" Blue continued, interrupting her. It wasn't like Link at all to interrupt someone, but this time he couldn't bear it. He didn't want to hear what he thought Zelda meant, and each word she spoke drove a sharp blade into his chest. "Then why did we have to come rescue you at all?"

"Link! I'm sorry!" Zelda gasped, helplessly holding her fists against her head, "I had a lot on my mind and it was irresponsible of me to-"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Vaati…" Green gripped the hilt of his sword tighter as the great eye suddenly burst out with a malevolent laughter that shook the Palace walls.

The sorcerer glared at them coldly, and the dark aura around the demon eye scared Zelda. The aura had a reckless sensation, as though the wind mage wasn't thinking very clearly about any consequences anymore. "She certainly is a captive, idiots. I would never allow her to leave this place."

"Vaati, you don't have to defend me," Zelda said, her hands beginning to tremble. This wasn't going the way she'd imagined. She was afraid. She was afraid that she'd come here only to see Vaati or Link die, and there was nothing she could do about it.

For reasons she couldn't fathom, Vaati continued to ride his momentum of provoking Link. Was it because, deep down, he recognized that the princess was distraught over looking like the bad person, for failing to remember the hero who had been trying to save her?

She knew him well enough now that it was possible he was digging his own grave to save her.

_Vaati no, you don't know what you're doing!_

"Ahahahaha! You see, _heroes_ , I have captured her so completely that she will never return to you as the princess you once knew!" Vaati gloated, laughing hysterically now.

"Vaati stop it! Link, don't listen to him!" Zelda was panicking now, her hands shaking visibly, unsure of what to say or what to do.

"You should see how she commands the very best monsters I have. She belongs with us now," Vaati challenged smugly.

"Vaati stop!"

"Zelda that's not true, is it?" Red lowered his sword slightly in worried disbelief. He couldn't help but think about the gigantic monster bird that Zelda had arrived on: it had appeared just as fearsome, if not more, than the monsters he and the rest of the Links had fought on their way here.

"I-I can explain," Zelda stammered, and she suddenly felt alone, being rounded on by the ones she called friends. She looked into each Link's eyes, and they all gave her the same tale. They didn't believe her anymore.

"What did you do to her, you demon? Did you cast a spell on her?" Vio demanded, the first to break his gaze away from the princess.

"Hah, I cast a spell on her all right." Vaati chuckled knowingly.

Zelda took a step towards the sorcerer. If everyone could listen then no one would have to die. "Vaati-"

"No Zelda," a firm hand stopped her. It was Green. "You're not all right. But we're going to help you from whatever he did to you, okay?" he asked gently, "So just trust us."

_Trust me._

Zelda took a frightened step back. "Please, I beg you Link," she whispered, her voice hoarse. Those eyes, they scared her. It was the eyes of someone who had given up on trying to reason with her. There was nothing she could say. Nothing she could say.

Nothing.

_Please._

She wanted to scream. A nightmare. This was a nightmare. Please, someone, anyone, wake her from this dream.

"Zelda… I'm sorry. We'll save you from this, I promise," Green tried to reassure her.

Zelda whirled around, away from the four Links, and began to run towards Vaati. She needed to stand between him and Link. She couldn't have them fight. She had to stop them.

How?

_How?_

They weren't listening.

They weren't listening.

They weren't-

A hand grabbed her again. It was Blue. He was telling her to stay back, that she would hurt herself. They thought she was insane. They thought she was crazy. They thought Vaati had done something to her head. _No. No, no, no!_

"You won't take her from me!" Vaati suddenly screamed. Zelda's head snapped towards the great eye. He was angry. He thought they were hurting her. They were going to take her away.

_No Vaati, you can't!_

She pushed Blue away. More hands reached for her. Vaati's black claw wrapped around her waist, tightly, but gently. It pulled her close to him.

"Vaati-" she began, her gaze locked on his. He was looking at her, relieved that she was by his side again. The edges of his eye had softened, calm. He was looking at her. Even as a demon eye she could recognize that mischievous look, that grin that let her know that everything was going to be all right. She was safe in his arms. She was his world. He-

Zelda froze. He wasn't looking at Link.

He wasn't paying attention to Link.

"Link, _no!"_ Zelda shouted, but it was too late.

She saw them, the four of them, diving towards the demon eye with their swords aimed right for the pupil. She saw every painful detail of Vaati's last seconds as the swords made contact just as shock blossomed on his face, realizing too late that the four Links had gone in for the final attack. Light gleamed along each of the four holy blades, and as it did so she saw Vaati pool into a black shadow that was sucked into the weapon. The claw around her waist dissipated into nothingness, until she fell to the floor when the claw vanished completely. The wind raged around them for what seemed like an eternity as the last of Vaati's body disappeared into the sword, and she could hear a scream of rage within the sweeping gusts. A scream of rage. A scream of regret.

And then just as quickly as the chaos had occurred, the wind subsided and everything became deathly still.

Zelda fell to her knees, staring blankly at the space where the wind mage had once been.

He was gone.

She gasped when a hand touched her shoulder softly, and disappointment flashed across her face when she realized that it wasn't Vaati's hand, but Link's. Green smiled back at her hopefully, but her heart broke in two from seeing his face. He didn't understand.

He didn't understand.

She had failed.

"Why couldn't you listen to me, Link?" she managed in a hoarse voice. Her lips quivered, holding back the pain, trying to keep herself from screaming. She couldn't hold herself back when Link's hopeful smile crumbled and broke into one of confusion and bewilderment. "Why? _!_ " She shrieked.

Red took a step back, shocked at her outburst. He'd never seen Zelda like this before. She'd never yelled at him like that, or looked into his eyes with such terrible emotion. It was a look of despair. Of love and hate at the same time. "She's still cursed…" he heard Green speak in a low voice next to him.

"I'm not cursed! I'm not!" Zelda yelled, hysterical now. She hit Blue, hard, when he reached down to calm her, and then in shock that she'd hit Link she crumbled back onto the floor, pounding it with her fist until they were bruised. "I'm not cursed! You didn't have to do that to him! I told you not to! Why couldn't you listen to me? _Why couldn't you listen to me?_!"

Green reached out again, carefully, shaken from the way the princess was behaving. Didn't they just save her? Then why did it feel like they were the bad guys? "Zelda I…" he trailed off, helplessly watching Zelda run away from him before she collapsed in the corner, cradling her head in her hands and crying into the floor. It wasn't supposed to end like this. They were supposed to be happy that they had saved the day from the evil that had been unleashed from the Four Sword. He was supposed to return to Hyrule with the princess where they could go back to their carefree days, back to where he would help the princess run away with him for an hour to escape the stress of ruling a kingdom. "I don't know what I'd do without you," she say, and he'd quietly, contentedly, nod and let her do whatever she liked during her brief time of freedom. Green looked at the girl who was hunched over her own tears. Could they ever go back to those days again? "I was worried I'd lost you…" he finished in a whisper only he could hear, and pulled his hand back.

This wasn't the way things were supposed to end.


	22. Princess of Demons

He was gone.

Zelda had run back to her room after she'd yelled at Vaati, and she buried her tear-stained face into her pillow. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" Her voice was a muffled yell as she repeated to herself how much she hated the sorcerer who had left to fight Link. She'd found Vaati again later in the afternoon after they had both cleaned themselves up from the wedding, just as the sun was setting. She'd found him standing by the edge of a balcony, looking out over the edge and into the sky, contemplating. She was sure that if she hadn't found him then, he would have simply left without saying anything to her.

But what good had it been? She hadn't been able to talk any sense in him, pigheaded as he was.

He was going to die. He was _going to die._ She didn't know how she knew this, but she just knew he was going to lose to Link. Her premonitions were usually correct, and this was one time where she wished her gift of premonitions would be wrong.

The words repeated themselves in her head mercilessly: Vaati was going to die.

Zelda gripped the edges of the blankets tightly until they were bunched together in her fists. Was there no other way? Why, why did it have to be like this? In the beginning she would have rejoiced at the fact that Link had arrived to defeat the evil wind mage. In the beginning, she would have been happy to learn that Vaati was going to die. She would have been happy to hear that all of the monsters had been banished and that Hyrule was safe for the Hylians to keep. But now things had changed in ways she would have never imagined, and…

The princess slowly opened her eyes. Change.

_Get up Zelda._

Wiping the tears away from her eyes, the princess sniffed once, and then pushed herself up out of the bed. Kneeling on the covers, she stared at the pillow.

"I can change things…" she whispered to herself. She turned her face towards the mirror on the other side of the room. A young woman, her face stained with burdens and tears, looked back at her. However, it wasn't an expression of defeat. No, she couldn't give up now. The woman in the mirror returned a determined gaze, her expression full of purpose. "Who says that there can only be one left standing?" she asked her reflection. "Are you the princess of Hyrule, or the ruler of the demons? Or maybe you are both?"

People were afraid of change. Few ever dare to leave the comfort of their routines, or have the courage to change the way they see the world. But that didn't mean that it was impossible for things to change. Her eyes steeled, Zelda slid out of the bed and gracefully walked towards the door. She looked exactly as she had when she had first arrived at the Palace of Winds, with her pink royal dress and her hair tied up in a ponytail with a big pink bow. However, the way she carried herself now was different. Her shoulders were ever so slightly pulled back, and her steps were a little wider and more confident. She wasn't the princess who was disgusted to be among monsters, but proud to be considered one of their own.

A stalfos hailed her as she passed, just like the knights of Hyrule did, and as she approached the gardens the bubbles scattered to give her some peace. Zelda took a deep breath as she stood in the middle of the grass. The wind swirled around her hair ever so slightly. It was an uneasy wind that couldn't seem to pick a direction to blow in. Zelda bit her lip, and then looked towards the higher levels of the Palace of Winds, farther away than anywhere she had explored so far. A wall of thick clouds covered it, obscuring most of it from view.

_Vaati… Link…_

She needed a way to get there, through those clouds. It was so far away, so unreachable.

But there was nowhere she couldn't go as the princess of demons.

Zelda whistled twice, the shrill note piercing through the air. Silence fell again for several long seconds, and then Zelda's ears caught the sound of a dull thudding of the air. The Helmaroc King flew into view, his wings creating powerful gusts with each flap, and eventually came to land in front of the princess. He tilted his head, curiously. "You called, Princess?"

Zelda nodded once, and then she pointed towards the highest part of the Palace, hidden away by the clouds. "Take me to where Vaati is."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Din damn it all, they were really powerful. Vaati, now in demon form, opened his eye as he recovered from his initial injuries. That accursed sword had granted the hero the ability to split into four, and it hadn't taken too long for them to use their insane coordination to break through his first defenses. They'd used his winds and his poor peripheral vision against him, throwing bombs from directions he didn't anticipate so that they shattered his stone-enhanced shields. Dazed, he'd retreated momentarily to recover. Vaati's blood boiled when he saw the heroes rejoicing on the platform below, thinking they had bested him.

He wasn't completely healed, but seeing them celebrate so prematurely infuriated him to no end. Swooping down on them, Vaati threw a poorly aimed blast of enraged energy at the four Links. "Did you think you could just leave?" He snarled as the blast caused the heroes to scatter.

"Red! Are you okay?"

"I'm alright! What about Vio and Blue?"

"We're fine, just a little surprised he's still alive."

Vaati's claws clenched and unclenched angrily as the four Links called to each other to make sure they were okay. Who did they think they were, ignoring his presence like that? And for them to assume he'd be defeated so easily, it aggravated him so! "Fools! Impertinent brats! I'll shatter the Four Sword and cast its pieces to the wind!"

Vaati summoned his sentries, each one glowing with hot fire, and they swirled around the battlefield like angry wasps. With his composure completely gone and his attacks reckless from anger, his claws smashed into the ground wherever the heroes were standing. The wind cut through the air in concentrated, powerful blasts blindly, and he became even more enraged when none of his attacks seemed to hit any of the Links.

_Kill them, kill them all!_

But… could he actually do it? He had the power to do it. He could kill them easily, and yet there was something that held him back since the very beginning of the fight. After all, all he could do was summon a great and powerful gale to fling the helpless heroes off the edge of the Palace and they would fall to their deaths in a single blast. He could immobilize their movements with his command of the air, or even turn them to stone. But still, he held back. He couldn't win as easily as that, even though he had the ability to finish the fight with a blink of his eye.

Because now whenever he imagined Link's dying expression, all he could see was Zelda crying next to him, distraught over what he had done. _Why do I care?_ Vaati's anger lashed out, but still the feeling of guilt wouldn't leave him.

And so he attacked blindly, haphazardly, a part of him wanting nothing more than to crush the brats with his claws but another saying he couldn't do it. He growled when a blade from Blue nicked his wings.

_You're really going to die if you hesitate now._

"I won't!" Vaati snarled, causing his summoned sentries to explode like bombs around the battlefield. His eye twitched when he saw that none of the Links were hurt, having blocked the attack with their shields. Then, a thought came to him with a hint of desperation.

_I'm not going to die here. When I return, there is someone I have to speak to._

_When I return I…_

"Aargh!" Vaati shouted when an energy sphere hit him squarely in the side. He'd been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Green reflect one of his own magic attacks back at him with the Four Sword. It crackled against his body and he could feel the remaining magical guards around him break. He was completely exposed to the sealing magic of the Four Sword. He saw all four Links charging towards him now, getting ready to land the final blow against him with their swords.

_No… this can't be…_

"Stop!"

Everyone froze. Everything froze. The four Links stopped mid-dash and the demon eye was staring past them at the shadow of a large bird flying into view. But it wasn't the bird that he was concerned about; it was the figure sitting on its back, with her ginger-blond hair whipping in the wind. Zelda jumped off of the Helmaroc King's back, and she ran as fast as she could towards the four heroes who looked ready to finish Vaati off. "Helmaroc, leave us!" she yelled over her shoulder, ordering the bird to go. She didn't want Link to be threatened by the presence of another powerful monster. When she heard the Helmaroc fly away, she ran even faster towards the Links and Vaati. _So the legends were true about the Four Sword_ , she thought when she saw that it wasn't just one Link but four standing in front of her. There was a Link dressed in his usual green tunic, one dressed in red, another in blue, and another in purple. And just like the legends said, it seemed as though the sword was made to defeat Vaati, from the way the sorcerer floated low to the ground weakly, barely flapping his wings to keep himself aloft. It frightened her to see the sorcerer like that, all battered and beaten, and not at all like the confident Vaati who pretended not to know defeat. It scared her even more, however, to see Link readying to plunge his sword mercilessly through Vaati as though he were no different than a rabid dog. Maybe she would have worn the same expression a few weeks ago, but she knew better, and this wasn't how things had to end.

Zelda threw herself on the nearest Link, Green, hugging the surprised boy tightly. "Link! Link, please, stop fighting…" she cried.

"Zelda, you're okay…" Green spoke in an incredulous hush, almost dropping his sword in shock. He glanced at Vio as though to ask him if he knew why the princess was here, but the purple-clad Link seemed just as puzzled as he. But, no… none of that mattered. All these long days and long nights, they'd gone through so many trials to make sure Zelda was safe. It was the only thing that kept them fighting against the horrendous titans that stood in their way. It was the only thing that kept them from giving up, from running away from the dark dungeons that they had to conquer. They had the courage to keep going because he knew that for every single trial they faced, Zelda faced a trial even worse each passing day. They did it for her. Ever since that fateful day when he and the princess had witnessed the release of the wind mage, he'd been worried about all of the horrible things she'd had to endure under Vaati's captivity. Every night he'd been haunted by how that disgusting eye had leered at her in its claws like she was some kind of prize. It's filthy hands. He remembered. It needed to get it's filthy hands off of her.

"Vaati-"

Green's eyes snapped open at the sound of that name. Why did she call his name so tenderly, like she was… almost worried about him? He must have misheard! When he felt Zelda begin to pull away, Green gripped her shoulders protectively, shielding her from the one-eyed demon that was staring at them with burning hatred. "Zelda, stay back! It's dangerous here."

"Yeah! We have to defeat Vaati for good." Red agreed earnestly, walking up to Green and Zelda with a cautious glance towards the wind mage. Zelda surprised them both by pushing them away.

"No!" she cried, and then she faltered when she saw the sting of hurt flash across Green's face. She wrung her hands. _I'm sorry_. "No," she repeated gently, though firmly, "You don't. Please just listen to me."

"No? Zelda do you even know what you're saying?" Vio asked incredulously.

"Link you don't have to fight him!" Zelda whipped around to face Vio, her expression distraught.

"Don't have to fight him? _!"_ Blue stepped forward, upset that he couldn't finish Vaati off. _"_ He kidnapped you! The whole kingdom was worried about you! _I_ was worried about you!" he exclaimed. His expression indicated anger, but it was one tinged with hurt. She couldn't bear to look at him; how could she admit that she had, amidst her own battles she'd been fighting, forgotten about him?

"I know. I know, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it to anyone a-"

"Are you saying you weren't actually a captive?" Blue continued, interrupting her. It wasn't like Link at all to interrupt someone, but this time he couldn't bear it. He didn't want to hear what he thought Zelda meant, and each word she spoke drove a sharp blade into his chest. "Then why did we have to come rescue you at all?"

"Link! I'm sorry!" Zelda gasped, helplessly holding her fists against her head, "I had a lot on my mind and it was irresponsible of me to-"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Vaati…" Green gripped the hilt of his sword tighter as the great eye suddenly burst out with a malevolent laughter that shook the Palace walls.

The sorcerer glared at them coldly, and the dark aura around the demon eye scared Zelda. The aura had a reckless sensation, as though the wind mage wasn't thinking very clearly about any consequences anymore. "She certainly is a captive, idiots. I would never allow her to leave this place."

"Vaati, you don't have to defend me," Zelda said, her hands beginning to tremble. This wasn't going the way she'd imagined. She was afraid. She was afraid that she'd come here only to see Vaati or Link die, and there was nothing she could do about it.

For reasons she couldn't fathom, Vaati continued to ride his momentum of provoking Link. Was it because, deep down, he recognized that the princess was distraught over looking like the bad person, for failing to remember the hero who had been trying to save her?

She knew him well enough now that it was possible he was digging his own grave to save her.

_Vaati no, you don't know what you're doing!_

"Ahahahaha! You see, _heroes_ , I have captured her so completely that she will never return to you as the princess you once knew!" Vaati gloated, laughing hysterically now.

"Vaati stop it! Link, don't listen to him!" Zelda was panicking now, her hands shaking visibly, unsure of what to say or what to do.

"You should see how she commands the very best monsters I have. She belongs with us now," Vaati challenged smugly.

"Vaati stop!"

"Zelda that's not true, is it?" Red lowered his sword slightly in worried disbelief. He couldn't help but think about the gigantic monster bird that Zelda had arrived on: it had appeared just as fearsome, if not more, than the monsters he and the rest of the Links had fought on their way here.

"I-I can explain," Zelda stammered, and she suddenly felt alone, being rounded on by the ones she called friends. She looked into each Link's eyes, and they all gave her the same tale. They didn't believe her anymore.

"What did you do to her, you demon? Did you cast a spell on her?" Vio demanded, the first to break his gaze away from the princess.

"Hah, I cast a spell on her all right." Vaati chuckled knowingly.

Zelda took a step towards the sorcerer. If everyone could listen then no one would have to die. "Vaati-"

"No Zelda," a firm hand stopped her. It was Green. "You're not all right. But we're going to help you from whatever he did to you, okay?" he asked gently, "So just trust us."

_Trust me._

Zelda took a frightened step back. "Please, I beg you Link," she whispered, her voice hoarse. Those eyes, they scared her. It was the eyes of someone who had given up on trying to reason with her. There was nothing she could say. Nothing she could say.

Nothing.

_Please._

She wanted to scream. A nightmare. This was a nightmare. Please, someone, anyone, wake her from this dream.

"Zelda… I'm sorry. We'll save you from this, I promise," Green tried to reassure her.

Zelda whirled around, away from the four Links, and began to run towards Vaati. She needed to stand between him and Link. She couldn't have them fight. She had to stop them.

How?

_How?_

They weren't listening.

They weren't listening.

They weren't-

A hand grabbed her again. It was Blue. He was telling her to stay back, that she would hurt herself. They thought she was insane. They thought she was crazy. They thought Vaati had done something to her head. _No. No, no, no!_

"You won't take her from me!" Vaati suddenly screamed. Zelda's head snapped towards the great eye. He was angry. He thought they were hurting her. They were going to take her away.

_No Vaati, you can't!_

She pushed Blue away. More hands reached for her. Vaati's black claw wrapped around her waist, tightly, but gently. It pulled her close to him.

"Vaati-" she began, her gaze locked on his. He was looking at her, relieved that she was by his side again. The edges of his eye had softened, calm. He was looking at her. Even as a demon eye she could recognize that mischievous look, that grin that let her know that everything was going to be all right. She was safe in his arms. She was his world. He-

Zelda froze. He wasn't looking at Link.

He wasn't paying attention to Link.

"Link, _no!"_ Zelda shouted, but it was too late.

She saw them, the four of them, diving towards the demon eye with their swords aimed right for the pupil. She saw every painful detail of Vaati's last seconds as the swords made contact just as shock blossomed on his face, realizing too late that the four Links had gone in for the final attack. Light gleamed along each of the four holy blades, and as it did so she saw Vaati pool into a black shadow that was sucked into the weapon. The claw around her waist dissipated into nothingness, until she fell to the floor when the claw vanished completely. The wind raged around them for what seemed like an eternity as the last of Vaati's body disappeared into the sword, and she could hear a scream of rage within the sweeping gusts. A scream of rage. A scream of regret.

And then just as quickly as the chaos had occurred, the wind subsided and everything became deathly still.

Zelda fell to her knees, staring blankly at the space where the wind mage had once been.

He was gone.

She gasped when a hand touched her shoulder softly, and disappointment flashed across her face when she realized that it wasn't Vaati's hand, but Link's. Green smiled back at her hopefully, but her heart broke in two from seeing his face. He didn't understand.

He didn't understand.

She had failed.

"Why couldn't you listen to me, Link?" she managed in a hoarse voice. Her lips quivered, holding back the pain, trying to keep herself from screaming. She couldn't hold herself back when Link's hopeful smile crumbled and broke into one of confusion and bewilderment. "Why? _!_ " She shrieked.

Red took a step back, shocked at her outburst. He'd never seen Zelda like this before. She'd never yelled at him like that, or looked into his eyes with such terrible emotion. It was a look of despair. Of love and hate at the same time. "She's still cursed…" he heard Green speak in a low voice next to him.

"I'm not cursed! I'm not!" Zelda yelled, hysterical now. She hit Blue, hard, when he reached down to calm her, and then in shock that she'd hit Link she crumbled back onto the floor, pounding it with her fist until they were bruised. "I'm not cursed! You didn't have to do that to him! I told you not to! Why couldn't you listen to me? _Why couldn't you listen to me?_!"

Green reached out again, carefully, shaken from the way the princess was behaving. Didn't they just save her? Then why did it feel like they were the bad guys? "Zelda I…" he trailed off, helplessly watching Zelda run away from him before she collapsed in the corner, cradling her head in her hands and crying into the floor. It wasn't supposed to end like this. They were supposed to be happy that they had saved the day from the evil that had been unleashed from the Four Sword. He was supposed to return to Hyrule with the princess where they could go back to their carefree days, back to where he would help the princess run away with him for an hour to escape the stress of ruling a kingdom. "I don't know what I'd do without you," she say, and he'd quietly, contentedly, nod and let her do whatever she liked during her brief time of freedom. Green looked at the girl who was hunched over her own tears. Could they ever go back to those days again? "I was worried I'd lost you…" he finished in a whisper only he could hear, and pulled his hand back.

This wasn't the way things were supposed to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand that's it.   
> Of course, there's a sequel to this story that's completed. It's uploaded on my ff.net account (fleets), and I'll try to upload it on ao3 eventually :)

**Author's Note:**

> I have removed all previous AN ramblings and review responses from the version posted on ao3 :)  
> If you want to see what was going on in my head at the time I first wrote this, please check out the ff.net version (or don't, because they're also kind of embarrassing now).


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